Dump turns away debris over equipment failure

| 27/03/2018 | 41 Comments

(CNS): Trouble at the George Town landfill shows no sign of abating as the Department of Environmental Health has now announced that it has been forced to temporarily halt the intake of construction debris and vegetative waste due to equipment failure. Despite claims from officials earlier this week that it was getting back on track with the recently delayed garbage collection, the problems appear to be worsening at the critically important public entity. The refusal to take garden waste comes at a time when government is hoping to begin its plans for composting.

Intake of construction and green waste was suspended on Monday and is not expected to resume until Thursday. The dump officials said that vegetative waste refers to the remnants of land-clearing activities and includes large trees and branches, while construction debris refers to materials resulting from building or demolition activities, such as building blocks, concrete and rubble.

Until the landfill begins accepting this type of waste again, the DEH urged residents and contractors not to fly-tip by dumping the waste on private property, along the roadway or in other public spaces during this time. “Residents and contractors are asked to ensure that items are properly contained,” the department stated in a release.

Residential and commercial garbage will continue to be accepted, although the intake of derelict vehicles and scrap metals at George Town landfill is also still limited. The department said it is currently in the process of reorganising the landfill so that the removal of these items will be normalised in the coming months.

While the issues at the dump continue in the absence of a full management team and staff shortages, the minister in charge, Dwayne Seymour, and the chief officer of the ministry, Jennifer Ahearn, have made almost no comment on the mounting problems. Meanwhile, it is understood that Roydell Carter remains on some form of enforced leave while negotiations over his future with the civil service continue. The deputy director left at the end of last year.

For more information contact DEH main office by telephone on 949-6696 or by email at dehcustomerservice@gov.ky.

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Category: Environmental Health, Health

Comments (41)

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  1. Douglas says:

    Hmmm…. maybe consider offering subsidized recycling, and charging a higher a fee for regular waste…. not rocket science.

  2. Anonymous says:

    No more monies for deh managers to go on another shopping spree to spend like the know all idiots the premier got them addicted to that when he were the minister for health at least the premier got a so call tire project a couple of months before May 24, 2017 election out of the spending spree not even god could tell them about such high spending we the public need to hear what is happening in the landfill with the tire project that were started last year where the premier got alot of publicity in the medias when he were throwing tires that suppose to have started the big tire project in the landfill we the public long for some real information about our tire project because everything gone desd on that we the public long for little news. May 23rd 2017 minister for health put the present minister for health in a hot ministerial seat he can only talk when the premier will allow him to talk real dictatorship and when the present minister for health are allowed to talk he sounds just like a real recorder all of the time all the premier have to do is press a button what a joke.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Fewer residential collections and now the dump’s machinery out of action ? All this does is convince residents, businesses, to dump their trash elsewhere, anywhere, creating another problem. For God’s sake what is so difficult about funding an effective trash collection & disposal process ? There must have been plenty more experts, and political movers & shakers, to get this sorted.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Chief officer of health, premier, deputy governor and the minister of health it sounds if you all need too have some urgent public meetings in all of the districts in cayman including cayman Brac and little cayman too have some serious discussions on such a national issue the garbage because by the sounds of it things not nice it is a confusion and you all can not handle it and are afraid and ashamed to admit it. Here comes Uncle DART once more.

  5. Anonymous says:

    What a joke equipment failure, absence of a full management team and staff shortage. Chief officer please give us the public some better answers you are just repeating yourself like a stuck record we the public ain’t fools. You can tell the deputy governor, premier and the minister of health that because they all know what is going on the top guys protecting each other not even the garbage they can get done right. Another political football for the next three years and two months. The Bodden Towner’s do not want the garbage in Bodden Town so the minister of health is in some slippery shoes if he slips out you go next election and will never win in another election again the minister will be history after that those Bodden Towner’s do not joke they love the clean sweep at election time. Chief officer for health Please ask the deh director for some advice maybe the deh director have his lawyer by now we the public hope that the government do not have too pay for those legal fees because the director ain’t giving up the fight. Chief officer of health the deh director is giving you a run better than the deputy governor 5k run that you are a big promoter, supporter and participant.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Reporting Chief Officer of Health to the Deputy Governor makes no sense they are both on the same scale, neither one knows what they ore doing.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Chief officer for health where is the your managers that suppose to be managing the landfill for all of these years?. Are they no longer working there at the landfill? or they suppose to be on enforced leave also with the deh director and you do not know how to go about it because the director got you thinking what you must do next because the deh director is not giving up the fight. This look like another situation that the leader of opposition needs to look into to see if he can find any untruth and if he do bring it to the attention of the deputy governor and have who needs to be duscipline gets dsciplined.

  8. Anonymous says:

    This from the best Cayman has to offer as far as leadership. Kids fresh from high school could do a much better job. They should be embarrassed. Your heritage is one of being dysfunctional across the board.

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  9. Cor Blimey! says:

    I firmly believe that all the space immediately surrounding the Government Administration Building shoud be classified as a designated area for temporay disposal of green and construction waste, with a special emphasis on the area immediately in front of the main entrance.This will almost certainly produce some fairly prompt action from the department responsible, as they will no doubt need to protect their rears from their peers.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Love it….lets do like the French and dump cart loads of iguana and chicken crap on the front steps of the LA…that may also spur a response on those hazards of another kind…

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    • Cindy Phillips says:

      I can’t believe that ten years from when I left when the smell and the combustion fires were turning up the noses of tourists and residents -this STILL hasn’t been sorted out and solved. All that toxic waste is seeping into your island and will now be flytipped everywhere. My poor Cayman my other motherland ?

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  10. Anonymous says:

    When can dart take over the dump and we can move it to Bodden Town? It needs to be fixed. You complain your garbage isn’t picked up? Well, it will be dealt with in a much better way if we all pay a minimal fee for dart to do it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Caymanomics. Jeez…pay a cheap fee to get it done properly? Do you live in Cayman?

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    • Anonymous says:

      10:52pm.

      That is the game that is being played out here. That is valuable land, particularly to the nearby development.

      In the meantime we suffer.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    But… didn’t Minister Seymour recently promise that the issues at the landfill would soon all be resolved? Is this the resolution? Poor!!

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  12. Anonymous says:

    I am also told that the incinerator that cost a fortune, which was only installed about 7 years ago is also out of service.

    How are they discarding animal carcasses and other hazardous bits and pieces….burying them in the landfill too?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Same in Little Cayman?? But there is a a perfect (spare) garbage truck sitting here waiting on one little part (for at least two years), but who cares??

  13. Anonymous says:

    third world….

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  14. Anonymous says:

    another fine mess john-john…..

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    • Anonymous says:

      Ministry of Healthy and DEH are on the hook for this mess.
      Does anybody really think Jon Jon is in charge of anything? He is the ceremonial figurehead.

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  15. "Anonymousir" says:

    but the NRA gets 2.3 million for new trucks … what about the DEH??

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    • Two Cents says:

      You, and 14 others, clearly misread the story on the NRA equipment which said: “The NRA said it was able to upgrade its fleet without seeking cash from central government because of the creation of a ring-fenced fund for equipment purchases, all of which were approved by the Central Tenders Committee”. So stop trying to suggest that the NRA got $2.3M from central government; it didn’t.
      What I understood from the story is that the NRA has put in place the proper ring-fencing of equipment replacement funds (called depreciation in accrual accounting) and hence had the money to replace its equipment.
      I get the impression that in spite of the switch by the government from cash accounting to accrual accounting many years ago, the DoEH is still not practicing proper accrual accounting. If they were ,they would have money to replace a lot of this old worn out equipment and provide better services to the public. To many entities take depreciation money and use it for other things. NRA was right to ringfence it and make sure it isn’t used for anything else.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The ‘depreciation’ problem is Government-wide,not restricted to DEH. The Departments ‘depreciate’ their equipment on their books but the money is not applied to their budget. So when they need to replace equipment (trucks in negative depreciation, to use an example not related to DEH) its up to central government what money they get … which is another year having to ignore the warning lights on the dash because DEVS won’t work on vehicles so old they should have been depreciated off the books.

  16. Anonymous says:

    tricle down effect …..from top to bottom…failures!!!

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  17. West bay Premier says:

    Mount Rushmore equipment broken down again , time to buy new equipment instead of fixing the dump . Maybe they are waiting for the Chinese Company to come and fix the equipment too .

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    • West bay Premier says:

      And what happened to the new mulcher that had just recently been purchased ? Why are trees been put in the dump taking up space ?
      Why couldn’t the old concrete be taken to the quarry and be crushed for filling of future development sites ? Instead of filling up the dump . According to the article someone who is in charge of the dump is not doing their job .
      Or are the dump charging for construction materials to be dumped ?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Vegetative waste that has been mulched can be collected by local farmers and landscaping companies from a desinated location/s.

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        • West Bay Premier says:

          Anonymous 8:20 am , are you saying that all of vegetative waste is being mulched ? The article doesn’t sound that way , it sounds like mulcher isn’t working or no one to work it , why there’s no space for dumping of vegetation .

        • Anonymous says:

          Where are these designated areas? Can’t they advertise this? They advertised the hell out of free Xmas tree removal. That should have not been free and people should have had to pay something to dump their poor dead tree.

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          • Anonymous says:

            10:25am and 10:50am.

            Thanks for showing such rapid interest in the idea.

            Unfortunately, this mulch is not available.

            It makes too much sense to do this plud those merchants that import red cypress mulch from Florida would crucify CIG!

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    • Anonymous says:

      You are spot on!

      Government breaks down to create a private sector opportunity.

      We see this time and time again through out the world. Nothing wrong with that right?

      Just be transparent about it please.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Now you got it!

        • Quid pro quo says:

          A former minister and some financiers of the ppm including some very close friends are expected to make a killing off the back room deals and the eventual privatization of garbage collection. This was all agreed prior to the 2017 elections. This is all part of the master plan and barter of political favors. Connect the dots and follow the money.

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