New Amsterdam gets $3.7M compactor truck

…litterbugs to be prosecuted

The Municipality of New Amsterdam has commissioned a $3.7 million compactor truck.
The truck is the second such piece of equipment acquired by the town in less than a year, as it works aggressively to improve garbage collection in the city.
Mayor Wainwright McIntosh said on Wednesday that the truck will greatly assist with the collection of solid waste in the township as solid waste is everybody’s business.
As a result of this, the Mayor and Town Council of New Amsterdam has seen it fit to invest in a compactor truck.
“We will continue to improve our services here at the Mayor and Town Council of New Amsterdam,” the mayor said during a brief commissioning ceremony.
In April 2023, the municipality had commissioned a compactor truck and McIntosh who was then the acting Mayor said it would assist the municipality to address the growing solid waste problem. At that time, he had promised to continue to invest in this area.
The town had been without a compactor truck for some time, and a dump truck was being used to remove solid waste from dwelling homes and the business sector, before the arrival of the truck in April last year.
The first truck had cost $2.5M and a third has already been purchased.
Stop dumping
Meanwhile, the mayor is calling on citizens to stop the indiscriminate dumping of garbage around the town.
“On my way to this commissioning, I saw from a car a set of bottles and plastic bags being thrown out of the window. Across at Jubilee Drive we would have conducted a clean-up exercise there going back through Jubilee Drive I am disheartened looking at the response; it is all back to square one.”
However, some residents said the municipality has not been removing solid waste from their residences in a timely manner and some have admitted to utilising sections of the road shoulder as a garbage heap.
However, the mayor said it is time for persons to change their attitudes and if not the Council will no longer take lightly to persons littering.
“It is time that we will be moving in that direction where persons will be prosecuted for dumping illegally. The team from the health department is going beyond their regular call of duty to ensure that we have better control in terms of solid waste management and all that we are asking for is citizens to collaborate with us,” the mayor added. (G4)