By Davis Joseph

GRENVILLE, St.Andrew’s: A new ‘Garbage Disposal Act’ is in effect and businesses people and vendors around the parish of St. Andrew, as well as people throughout Grenada, must be aware of this. This was discussed at a meeting at the Bain’s Upper Level in Grenville last Thursday.

Based on the provisions of this Act, persons caught in the practice of illegal dumping could be fined up to a maximum of fifty thousand dollars or be sent to prison for a maximum of one year. This Act is also broadened to include ships caught in the act of dumping garbage within Grenada’s maritime boundaries. The owners of these ships could be fined millions of dollars for this offence.

A number of representatives from various organizations throughout the country, as well as officials from different ministries, which included the Hon. Ann David Antoine, Minister of Health; Hon. Yolande Bain Horsford, Minister of Social Development; Public Relations Officer of the Grenada Solid Waste Management Authorities, Ms. Myrna Julien; and Mr. Christopher Joseph from the Ministry of Health and the Environment were also present.

Other areas discussed at the meeting were: Public Health in relation to waste disposal, vending operations and rodents; the environment in the context of littering and beautification; materials used to construct vendors’ booths among other areas. Some of the main issues raised at the meeting were: the need for the return of the ‘windmill’ to deal with the flooding situation in the town of Grenville; the relocation of the Grenville Abattoir and the need for the Solid Waste Management Authorities to clean the road canal from the mouth of the sea upwards rather than from the town into the sea.