Solid Waste Management Strategy consultations launched

Aimed at enhancing Guyana’s garden city image and improving its solid waste management structure, the Ministry of Communities has outlined a comprehensive and economically viable, biofriendly initiative that will serve as a blueprint for the implementation of best practices.
The Ministry of Communities on Monday launched the consultations for the National Integrated Solid Waste Management Strategy (NISWMS), at the Umana Yana, Kingston. Georgetown.
The consultations saw in attendance mayors, deputy mayors, and regional chairmen, officials of the business community and sanitation service providers.
During opening remarks, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan said that the strategic framework will guide government’s agenda on waste collection, transportation and disposal; improving the waste management infrastructure, enforcing existing legislation and promoting waste-to-energy initiatives.
“The strategy is also expected to inform the country’s integrated efforts at converting waste into useful resources by ensuring their full utilisation and eventual exploitation for by-products” Minister Bulkan pointed out.
The objective is to reduce the long-term environmental, social and economic impact of a broken, archaic and disorganised system of solid waste management as the nation grapples with the resocialisation of a generation that thrived under a culture of littering and unlawful disposal of garbage that plagued the country for a number of years.
Minister Bulkan stated that the purpose is also to ensure that Guyana’s natural resplendence and unspoiled beauty remains intact and consequently preserved, so as to ensure the health and wellness of the nation’s most precious asset, “its human resource.”
Environmental Engineer at the Sanitation Management Unit (SMU) of the Ministry of Communities, Satrohan Nauth explained that Guyanese must begin to think about ways to first prevent waste generation before minimising and reusing it.
He mentioned that the three pillars of waste management: reuse, recycle and recover, will help in reducing the amount of waste that eventually ends up at landfill sites.
Nauth disclosed that the SMU will be seeking to establish sanitary landfill facilities in all 10 regions of Guyana.
Chief executive officer of Tagman Media Inc Alex Graham pointed to the synergy between personal hygiene and public waste disposal practices.
Graham, who is also the communications consultant for the ministry’s “Green Generation Guyana” public awareness campaign said that provisions must be made to ensure the re-education of a society that is accustomed to improper garbage generation and disposal habits.
He noted that the awareness campaign will be especially geared towards children with the aim of producing a new cadre of Guyanese with a more modern and progressive way of addressing the issue of Solid Waste Management.
During his presentation, Environmental Consultant Samuel Wright detailed that every human action creates a by-product and requires prior thought even before the waste is produced.
He related that the Solid Waste Management Strategy is a progressive one based on the sustainable paradigm of a green economy.
Wright said that after a period of consultations in 25 communities in all 10 regions, the draft solid waste management strategy is expected to inform a final document that will support the enactment of the National Solid Waste Management Bill.
According to Wright, it is projected that by 2024, 40 per cent of all generated waste will be recycled, composted or otherwise be put to use.
Minister within the Ministry of Communities Dawn Hastings-Williams during her closing address noted that many citizens are now fully cognisant of their role in contributing to a society that is clean, healthy and wholesome for human habitation:
“No more can we afford to allow our citizens, their children and grandchildren to regress to a status quo of wanton disregard for the environment.”
She expressed hope that this new approach to solid waste management will eventually place Guyana in a position where it will truly be known for its resplendent beauty and cleanliness.
According to the junior minister, the ministry is hoping not only to erase old habits but inculcate and encourage new ideas of waste management in a younger generation of Guyanese.
“We are therefore tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the necessary legislative provisions and infrastructural mechanisms are in place so that the emphasis on cleanliness is not just a piece of document but an integral part of our emerging culture,” she said.