Under the management of Michael Joseph, Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), the Cook’s Landfill has become a greater health hazard to the residents of the St. John’s Rural West Constituency.

The landfill fire, which started burning back in May, has exposed the residents of Five Islands and Hatton to toxic smoke on a daily basis. Efforts by suffering villagers to reach out to NSWMA officials have yielded no solutions to this hazardous situation.

In light of this reckless disregard for public health and safety, I call for the immediate overhaul of operations at the Cook’s Landfill.

Conversations held with landfill staff over the past few weeks paint a shocking picture:

He said there is no Landfill Manager and no technical staff, the landfill is more overwhelmed than ever before and the standard procedures are often ignored.

This includes failing to cover landfill waste with soil at the end of the workday. As a matter of fact, there isn’t enough soil material to cover the waste.

Staff are suffering with inadequate equipment, and are not being provided with the training they require to address the deteriorating situation.

Staff are suffering with inadequate equipment, and are not being provided with the training they require to address the deteriorating situation.

The tyre shredder is still not in use. Worst of all, Michael Joseph has blatantly failed to address the toxic fire and the litany of other problems at the Cook’s Landfill.

It is therefore imperative that the Chairman of NSWMA immediately charts a completely different course to bring a hasty resolution to the recurrent toxic landfill fires.

Further, the Chairman must urgently seek whatever expert advice and assistance that are required – from outside of Antigua and Barbuda, if necessary – to bring a hasty resolution to the recurrent toxic landfill fires.

Finally, I urge NSWMA to implement a proper Waste Diversion Plan and Policy, to ensure constant health hazards and operational issues become a thing of the past.