Gov’t aiming for new waste management sites in all regions by 2030

The government is pushing to establish new solid waste management facilities (landfill sites) in all 10 administrative regions by 2030, as part of the long-term strategy of ensuring the health of citizens.

This was disclosed by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development’s Sanitation Director, Satrohan Nauth on Tuesday.

Nauth was at the time addressing the multi-stakeholder consultation on the presentation of Guyana’s second voluntary national review of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).

“Our projections are by 2030 or before 2030 to have waste management facilities in all 10 administrative regions. We are also aiming to have more than one in the regions, just like how region four has two,” the sanitation director said.

Nauth said Region Five will have a landfill site for the first time at Blairmont, which is expected to be completed by mid-2023.

“Our national indicator is the number of Regional Democratic Councils with control facilities for solid waste management, there are currently five, and by mid-2023, that will increase to six,” she said.

Due to expanded housing development, two landfill facilities at Lima and Charity were closed and are being replaced by one at Zorg-en-Vlygt, along the Essequibo Coast. To ensure proper care of the sites, several upgrades are expected to be done.

“Most of these sites were opened dump sites. However, we intend to upgrade these sites by providing internal roads, handling of waste, compaction, coverage, drainage network, and in some cases fenced facilities to make the sites a more controlled one and then we will put an operator to manage the day-to-day operations of the waste,” Nauth explained.

With all the necessary upgrades being done by the government, citizens will be protected from biohazards and physical harm. The intention is to nurture community health, promote sanitation, and provide opportunities to earn from recycling and create employment.

Presently, residents of Region Four are benefitting from the Haags-Bosch solid waste site.

As of last year, cell two of the site was commissioned by Minister Nigel Dharamlall, while earlier this year, a stormwater pond, biofilters, and landfill gas extraction wells were in the process of being installed to improve the site’s operations.

For this year’s budget, a total of $2.2 billion was injected to aid in the delivery of these projects.