CWSA urges Grenadines residents to pay fees

The Central Water and Sewerage Waste Authority (CWSA), the entity charged with management of solid waste disposal services here, has reminded residents of the Grenadines that paying fees is critical to sustaining garbage collection and disposal services.

Manager of the Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) Winsbert Quow, at a joint media conference with the St Vincent Electricity Services Ltd (VINLEC) on March 5, explained that the fees are to help repay some of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) loan which funded the capital cost of the solid waste project and operation costs in the Grenadines.

“So, at that time, the CDB, who was the main lender, they proposed…that we should find a way of recovering some of the cost for the services in the Grenadines. Prior to 2007, we were not charging for waste collection and disposal in the Grenadines, although we had started the service in earnest in 2002,” Quow explained.

He said that annually, $1.5 million is spent on waste management services in the Grenadines and only $500,000 is billed for the service. Nevertheless, less than 10 per cent has been collected, since there wasn’t any mechanism in place to demand compliance.

Quow emphasized that as a result of consistent non-compliance, the company has been stalled in relation to implementing more sustainable waste management, since the landfilling on Bequia, Canouan and Union Island is not sustainable.

“The landfill capacities in the Grenadines, at Canouan, Union and Bequia in 2005 was judged to be just about five years remaining…if we do not improve our collection [of fees] and we do not invest in improving our service, we are going to have a real problem on our hands in a very short period of time, which would affect not only the people in the Grenadines, but all of us.”

Quow said the CWSA would like to introduce recycling services in the Grenadines to reduce the quantity of garbage sent to the landfills.

He urged residents to pay the $10 per month garbage disposal fee or the ‘environmental fee,’ so that the company would be able to finance more sustainable services. Currently, the CWSA provides garbage disposal twice per week, public education, white goods collection and landfill management. Collection of derelict vehicles will soon be introduced.(CB)