Solid Waste Dept cleans commercial business areas in Georgetown

Commercial businesses throughout several areas in Georgetown had their surrounding areas cleaned on Sunday morning during a six-hour-long cleanup exercise executed by the Mayor and City Council’s (M&CC) Solid Waste Department.
The cleanup, which is expected to become a weekly exercise, saw a team from the department clearing out several garbage piles, especially around businesses located in the areas of Regent and Robb Streets.
The garbage situation continues to be an issue since the businesses in those areas are still without proper garbage receptacles.
According to Solid Waste Director Walter Narine, businesses in the vicinity of Regent and Robb Streets and those around Avenue of the Republic, Wellington Street and Charlotte Streets are presently being run by foreigners who are yet to be sensitised on Guyana’s laws.
As such, the businesses are failing to adhere to requirements as a result of being ignorant of same.
This, however, is expected to be soon rectified in a sensitisation programme which will see enforcement being carried out by the Solid Waste Department.
“We have to remember that these businesses that we closed down are now taken over by foreigners who don’t understand the laws of Guyana and they don’t understand the requirements or stuff like that so it’s something that we have to re-sensitise again, so we will speak to them and then enforce after” Narine explained.
The Director noted that his Department is presently hoping for a meeting of the relevant Departments to have the matter of receptacle enforcement looked into.
“Well it is something that is in the pipeline for the longest while so we are hoping that we can sit together soon so that we can take it one block at a time, I would say first from Avenue of the Republic to Wellington Street and from Charlotte Street to Robb Street and give them some amount of time to have their receptacles in place and then enforcement should happen afterwards” the Director stated.
However, in the meanwhile, the Department made the decision to remove the garbage until such time that the businesses can be brought up to date with their relevant requirements.
“We have an excess amount of garbage on the streets but we couldn’t have left it until tomorrow so that’s why we went to clean it up…My Department made a decision to remove the garbage until enforcement can happen” Narine explained.
The Solid Waste Department has been carrying out various clean up campaigns around central Georgetown in its efforts to “clean up” the capital city.