Portmore councillors want to take charge of waste collection as garbage crisis worsens

Frustrated by mounting complaints from residents over a worsening garbage-collection crisis, councillors in the Portmore Municipal Corporation are demanding that the municipality assume full responsibility for waste management as outlined in the Portmore City Municipality Charter of 2015.

During Wednesday’s general meeting, Westchester Councillor Renair Benjamin criticised the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), arguing that the agency has failed in its operational responsibilities for garbage collection.

“In my division, I have been getting constant calls from residents about the non-collection of their garbage, which, oftentimes, takes the agency up to a month to collect. This is a serious breakdown in its operational responsibility,” Benjamin stated.

He pointed out that under the Portmore Charter, the municipality is responsible for solid waste collection and disposal, while the NSWMA serves as the regulatory body. However, he lamented that the situation has been reversed, with the NSWMA handling operations and the municipal corporation being relegated to a regulatory role.

“So the NSWMA is really the regulator, and the council has been given the responsibility for the operational aspect of garbage collection and management. But what we are seeing is the reverse, where the municipality is the regulator, ceding the operational responsibility to the NSWMA,” Benjamin said.

The councillor stressed that when garbage-collection issues arise, residents turn to their councillors for answers, which, he said, highlights the confusion surrounding responsibility.

FULL RESPONSIBILITY

“This is causing serious confusion in the Westchester division and throughout the municipality because the whole thing seems upside down. So I am calling for the law to be obeyed and followed, where the local authority takes full responsibility for the operational aspect of the collection of garbage in the municipality and the NSWMA carries out their regulatory role and manages the central landfills,” he stated.

Benjamin also blamed the central government for the existing arrangement, arguing that it limits the autonomy of the Portmore Municipal Corporation.

However, Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas said the corporation cannot hold the NSWMA accountable because the agency does not receive its funding directly from the municipality.

“We are not the body that disburses money directly to the agency. They get a share of the money collected from property tax in the municipality from the Ministry of Local Government after it is submitted to the Ministry of Finance. Hence there is no action we can take to enforce the charter,” Thomas said.

With mounting frustrations over garbage pile-ups across Portmore, the issue of waste-management control remains a pressing concern for local representatives and residents alike.

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