Dump gets only passing mention in SPS
George Town landfill, Grand Cayman
(CNS): Despite being very high on the priority list for many people in the Cayman Islands, the issue of the ever-growing George Town dump and plans to address the constant garbage problems were only mentioned in passing in the Strategic Policy Statement delivered Friday. Premier Alden McLaughlin dedicated less than half a page in his long address to providing an update on the situation at the George Town landfill and the hoped-for greener initiatives to deal with garbage management. However, he did promise a war on litter.
It is now more than 18 months since the government signed a deal in October 2017 with a consortium led by Dart’s construction company, DECCO, to begin talks on the remediation of the existing landfill, the development of a waste-to-energy facility and the expansion of recycling.
But there is still no sign of the project getting underway. Even the composting initiative which the premier announced was getting underway during his 2015 Strategic Policy Statement in the previous administration has still, some four years later, not got off the ground.
And on Friday when he delivered the SPS setting out the government’s goals until the end of this administration the myriad garbage issues were relegated to ‘soon come’.
McLaughlin said in his brief mention that if negotiations were concluded, then during this next budget period the government could introduce more recycling, though he accepted that his optimism that government could “push those negotiations to a speedy conclusion” was hardly speedy “after more than two years”.
The premier was hopeful that the preparatory works for the new waste-to-energy plant would start some time in the next budget period and even suggested that substantial progress on the required remediation works could begin this year.
“My optimism is boosted by the fact that despite the delays in finalising the contract, we have already dealt with the tyres at the site and increased the recycling of metals,” he said, adding that negotiations were proceeding well and should be completed in the coming months.
However, there are indications from other sources that there are still a number of challenging issues surrounding the talks that have yet to be resolved.
Nevertheless, the premier turned his attention to litter, as he raised concerns that the cleanliness of Cayman had deteriorated in recent times, with litter becoming increasingly prevalent.
“We need to act now before littering of our streets, beaches and open spaces gets completely out of control,” McLaughlin stated, as he announced an assault on the problem with “a major anti-litter campaign”.
He added, “We need to re-educate both locals and tourists as to what is expected from them; we need to provide better facilities for waste and, in time, for street recycling bins; and we need to look again at the litter laws and their enforcement. All three parts of this campaign are important and need to reinforce each other.”
Meanwhile, the challenges in waste management on a day-to-day basis roll on. The minister responsible for garbage, Dwayne Seymour, who only last November said the problems at the Department of Environmental Health had nothing to do with equipment, revealed he will be spending millions of dollars this year on equipment.
Seymour announced the purchase of around a dozen garbage trucks and several pieces of waste-management equipment and skips.
Category: Environmental Health, Health
Should be a prority over other considered projects. Isn’t Mr. Dart taking it over. Ugly from crew ship view, stinks, dangerous for your health, seeping in the North Sound etc… How long have been talking about it. Keeps getting from bad to worst now we have a surplus of money. My take.
if caymanian expats were allowed to be elected this would have been sorted 30 years ago.
why do you think it is 95% expats you see at recycling areas????
Cayman expats huh well I guess they see the hustle and they want piece a se pie too huh! Well the answer right now is NO. Is that clear enough for ya. Take ya meat outa we rice.
I like putting my meat in your rice.
You seem to be one of those people that thinks expats are people from Europe or North America and ignore the fact that 70% of expats in Cayman are from Jamaica, Honduras and the Philippines. Please way up to what is really happening in Cayman.
That is correct. Many miss this point. Professional expats is a fraction of labor/service expats.
mount trashmore…. a fitting monument to the failure and incompetence of caymanian politicians.
the dump is being sorted!…ppm style….
as in, all they will do is talks…talk…talk….
so government collected 830 million last year and we are stuck with a non functional dump with no filters on the incinerator, questionable drinking water (hospital waste?) polluted oceans that are extremely toxic to swim in and toxic air to breathe in (no emission regulation). Sounds like someone is just taking the money and buying fancy cars.. where is the money going? The mental health facility? nope…cleaning up all the abandoned cars? nope…..
Mr. McLaughlin:
If you think the garbage problem is not already completely out of control, you need to go for a drive, TODAY.
Have you seen the bio waste piled feet high at the hospital?
Have you seen the road sides?
Have you seen the bags of garbage that are not been picked up resindentially?
Have you seen the beaches in East End and North Side piled with garbage calf deep?
Will you take responsibility should a cat 5 hurricane rip through and the Mt. Trashmore eyesore that can been seen from MILES away garbage desecrates the rest of the planet because you have been too busy:
Hating on homosexuals
Getting ready to build a port that will destroy the marine life
Touting a new 50 story tower
Failing your people on a number of social issues!!!
“We need to act now before littering of our streets, beaches and open spaces gets completely out of control,” McLaughlin stated, as he announced an assault on the problem with “a major anti-litter campaign”.
How can you say you want to build a sky scraper, but not deal with the dump!
We do not want to build a skyscraper. A developer who owns the land next to the dump does.
i’m sure the people investing/staying at the new Hyatt will eventually notice they are in the “waft” zone :D…
Yes, the water treatment/sewerage facility and sulphurous emissions from rotting vegetation in mangrove swamps upswing can be a slight nuisance. They will get used to it, and it will not be a real issue.
Oh so some of the smell doesn’t come from Mount Trashmore? Have you been on it without holding your breath for a very long time? You are delusional.
He is saying that in addition to the Dump’s stench, there is rarely mentioned treatment/sewerage facility and sulphurous emissions.
The smell is not something you should have to get “used to” after investing 500k-1m on a real estate investment lol. I don’t know about everyone else but I roll up my windows when I drive by that area on seven mile…no thanks!
The off island investors in the Hyatt have not noticed that their new hotel will be in the waft zone 6 months of the year. They are in for a smelly surprise.
Yes 4:21, but the developer’s friends in the Cayman Islands Government are very enthusiastic about the idea. Alden and Bush are pushing the 50 storey skyscraper idea.
Do you want to swim in the water that percolated through 500,000 dead, decomposing iguanas and found its way into beach waters and dive sites?
Remember, that DoE does not have an established policy on issuing public warnings or closing beaches. The department lacks adequate personnel to make sure testing of Cayman’s beach waters takes place on a regular basis. When samples are taken, old lab equipment sometimes keeps lab personnel from getting accurate readings.
Dream in Cayman!
Spot.ON! I have been saying this for months!! After last weeks article about high contamination at beaches, I am now screaming this at the top of my lungs.
WTF is wrong with the CIG!?
What exactly is being done, and has been done, with over half a million slaughtered green iguana carcasses?
the great iguana mystery continues…
I feel sorry for the kiddos that have to go to a school next door to the landfill. The contaminated air and soil. The toxic fire fumes. How on earth were the plans for this school passed? What will be the health repercussions in years to come? It’s an urgent health issue that has to be sorted as a matter of priority.
The very fact that construction of a school near the Dump was approved is criminal.
And school administration has no problem with that. Neither have parents of these children. Children have no word in parent’s choice to send them to the “gas chamber” each and every day. And please don’t pretend there are no gasses.
It’s alright, Seymour is responsible for the garbage. Or, should I say, gaybage (wink wink wink).
I think the place is overflowing due to the amount of dumb garbage that MLAs spout, and this is the only place to store it. It’s unfortunate, as MLA jokes have a half life of about 100 years.
29 years of broken promises
https://www.caymancompass.com/2014/08/08/george-town-landfill-25-years-of-broken-promises/
*In early April 2014, Minister Bodden, Premier Alden McLaughlin and two civil servants traveled to Tampa to tour waste-to-energy facilities, landfills and a recycling processing center in order to, as Premier McLaughlin later said, “familiarize ourselves with various waste management systems.”
The premier also announced that finding and implementing a sustainable, solid waste management system was “an increasingly urgent issue for the Cayman Islands.” He said the tours of the solid waste management facilities “reinforced my belief in the importance of having an overarching strategy when looking at solid waste management.”
*Mr. Miller said the government had been consulting with representatives of the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization about the issue “on a regular basis for some time.” [1991]
*Mr. Miller spoke of “the threats of pollution from leach heads” and “the threat of a methane bomb going off on the outskirts of George Town at any time.
Mr. Miller, why nothing has changed since 1991? You are not afraid of a methane bomb any longer?
great post.
O boi!
MayDump and MayPort, coming right up.
I think we all need a MayChill to lighten up a bit.
FFFS!
The failure to address this most serious matter of national importance will be Alden’s legacy.
It’s all of their legacy! The entire LA are a bunch of garbage loving homophobic idiots!
THE most serious. But it is UNFIXABLE. All they could do now is to cover it up and pretend the problem is solved.
Fix the damn friggin’ dump Alden!
…but part of that solution would involve moving Camana Bay, and the owners won’t agree to do it. Not much Alden can do about that.
Let Dart dig up all the beach rock and tear down all the mangroves and it will be fixed
?…you are lost on this issue….