EPA working with Linden Town Council to identify new site for landfill – Mayor

In light of the build-up of waste material within the vicinity of one of the region’s largest tourist attractions, the Linden Mayor and Town Council, in an effort to better manage the town’s waste, is currently engaging with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to scope out a new suitable area to establish a dumpsite.
On Sunday, a video surfaced showing heaps of garbage lining the main access road to the Kara Kara Blue Lake on of the region’s largest tourist attractions.
Guyana Times on Monday spoke with the Mayor of Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice) Sharma Solomon, who explained that the area should not have been designated as a dumpsite given its close proximity to the lake.
“The first policy of this council is that those areas should not have been designated dumpsites,” he said.
On this point, the Mayor highlighted that in an effort to protect one of the region’s largest tourist attractions, the Town Council has had several engagements with the EPA to identity a new area to establish a dumpsite.
“We would have picked up from where we found the last council and the last council did a programme; in fact, so far, we would have had three meetings with the EPA because we would have also invited the EPA on some other matters of waste management”
Solomon revealed that significant progress was made during the various engagements with EPA, noting that more than three possible areas have already been identified where a landfill can be constructed.
“Even though we have a ministry and minister, our assurances from the EPA based on the conversations that we had is just to have those five locations come down to one that we can agree on,” he stated.
However, in the interim the Mayor revealed that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with Bauxite company BOSAI Limited to manage the waste at the area.
“We have an arrangement with BOSAI as it relates to the management of the area so what BOSAI is doing for us based on a MoU that we have with them; they would normally maintain the dumpsite for us; however, we have persons who are from the community dumping garbage recklessly in the area. It becomes overwhelming for them,” the Mayor explained.
Moreover, he explained that garbage issues are not common within the region, noting that the Town Council has already eliminated several illegal dumpsites within the region.
In October 2021, it was revealed that 200 square metres of land within the vicinity of the lake which was being used by the council for the disposal of waste was at maximum capacity which subsequently resulted in garbage being dumped onto the side of the access road. Following several complaints from residents, the Local Government and Regional Development Ministry had awarded a $10 million contract to clear the access road leading to the Kara Kara dumpsite, which was overflowing with solid waste, negatively impacting the tourism potential of the Kara Kara Blue Lake and its environs. The contract was awarded to Concrete Inc, and the project included clearing the roadway leading to the dumpsite that was overflowing with huge piles of garbage and compressing the area all the way to the site.