NSWMA still faced with garbage truck shortage

The shortage of garbage trucks at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has worsened.

In recent weeks, residents of several communities across the island have been complaining about a pile-up of  garbage. A resident of Kirkland Heights in St. Andrew told our news centre that the uncollected garbage had caused a rat problem.

NSWMA Chairman Dennis Chung says 91 trucks are needed in the Corporate Area but only 13 are in operation.He says the solid waste collection agency is taking steps to address the problem.

"We're putting some emergency things into place. We hope that by the end of the year we should have a significant amount of new trucks in the system. But we have a plan in place to recondition the existing trucks that we have.... In the next few weeks, we should have some trucks in the system that will last us longer."

The NSWMA says the situation has been compounded by the lack of favourable responses from private truck owners to assist with the collection of garbage. He says some of the private vehicles are unsuitable because of  their age.

"It's a significant challenge...but we have been trying our best. I know that there are areas from time to time that have challenges. One of the things that held things up is that once we have an election period, it creates a lull in activities, so we lost a few months there," Chung said.