M&CC blames trailer puncture for disrupting garbage collection from city businesses

The repaired Mayor and City Council trailer (Terrence Thompson photo)
The repaired Mayor and City Council trailer (Terrence Thompson photo)

The disabling of a trailer belonging to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) due to a punctured tyre is being blamed for the overflowing skip bins across Georgetown’s central business district over the past week.

The M&CC said it was able to rectify the issue yesterday and has started collecting the garbage from the bins, which were placed at strategic points throughout the city.

Addressing the issue at a press briefing at City Hall, Solid Waste Director Walter Narine explained that one of the trailer’s tyres was punctured and it was difficult to locate the replacement locally.

“On Monday, the tractor tyre burst at the landfill… the landfill is in such a way that the distance we have to go up to empty the waste is not a good terrain and the tyre burst,” Narine said.

“…To get the exact tyre locally proved to be a very long task… but we were able to get it and have it fitted on and we have begun remove the bins,” he explained.

According to Narine, because of the minor setback, workers from his department were unable to clear waste from 18 skip bins.

Narine also lamented that the business community generates a high volume of waste daily and while the M&CC is “spending a lot of resources and time to clean up waste,” businesses have been failing to pay their taxes, leaving the council cash strapped.

Many of the businesses, he also pointed out, do not have the requisite waste receptacles and to address garbage piling up outside of the entities the M&CC took a decision to place of the skip bins at specific locations.  

Mayor Ubraj Narine, who was also present at the press briefing, apologised to businesses for the inconvenience caused. However, in the same breath he called on businesses to honour their civic obligations and pay their taxes. “We have a list of 144 business entities that owe us billions of taxes. If these businesses pay up to council, we will probably be able to do more… but if they do not pay we have our hands tied,” he stressed.

He noted that while they are planning to use a portion of their central’s government subvention to purchase additional equipment to enhance garbage collection, citizens and businesses still need to play their part. “If we get the resources from the taxpayers, we will probably have two tractors so when one is down we have another,” Narine added.

He also reminded citizens and businesses of his open door policy, where they can visit and engage in discussions on payments for taxes.