“We can’t chase everybody who litters; culture shift, education needed” – GT Mayor

As Georgetown continues to deal with the wanton disposal of waste, the city’s Mayor Alfred Mentore on Thursday admitted that its enforcement arm could not charge everyone who litters.
Instead, he said investments may be better placed into boosting educational campaigns with the hopes of effecting a culture shift in citizens. He made these remarks during a press briefing at the Kitty Market, Georgetown.
“We can’t micromanage every person who dumps indiscriminately because that can be like an exercise in futility for the Solid Waste Director to have to chase after everybody who dumps here, who dumps there. It’s thousands of people in the city, and it’s difficult for us to manage all of that and to really and truly figure out who did this, who did that so we need to have that culture shift.”
He also pointed out that while they work on that, the real measure – outside of slapping people on the hands or charging them – is to get people educated through countrywide campaigns, since the capital city is often frequented by residents from various communities.
“What we may have to do, I think, because there are a lot of people who frequent the city who are not from the city is to treat it as a pilot project at the Georgetown level. We’ll have to get those other people who visit or work in the city but don’t live here to also buy in to this.”
In his view, as the citizens start to clean their surroundings and the area begins to look cleaner, he foresees that attitudes and behaviours will change.
Meanwhile, Director of Solid Waste Management, Walter Narine related that some Guyanese have lost their sense of pride which is reflected in their habitual littering.
“But the sense of pride, we lost that somewhere a long time ago – pride in our country, because I mean, folks just at the airport – their behaviour has changed they haven’t gone over yet, but their behaviour has changed at the airport? it’s a tiresome job to clean after people, and we need to have that culture shift,” he stressed.
Striking the issue at its core, he also pointed to another problem, that is, many people do not know the current law.
Additionally, he stated that members of the public have also contributed to the problem of homeless people littering along the roads, as they are the ones handing the waste over to them.
“You have a lot of homeless people transporting garbage, but the real culprits are the people who give these homeless individuals the garbage to dispose of. According to the regulations, they are culpable and can also be charged.”
Narine also addressed the horse carts used to dispose of garbage.
“You see folks cutting down trees and giving horse-drawn carts to dispose of garbage. Now, horse-drawn carts are not accepted at the landfill, so ultimately, you are contributing to the littering problem. Those people will take whatever you give them – whether it’s a tree or something else – and dispose of it in any open spot.”