The Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation (DSWMC) is set to resume operations at the tire section of the Fond Cole Landfill from Thursday April 30th, following a fire on March 13.
Manager of the Sanitary Landfill, Jahna Mclawrence indicated to GIS News on Tuesday April 28th that a contingency plan has been developed to prevent incidents at the landfill and threats to public health and safety.
“The fire spread to the tire area and that caused most of the issues that we had. To try mitigating that problem so it doesn’t happen again, we have a short-term, medium-term and long-term plan and we have short-term measures already in place.”
She explained that one of the short-term measures involves, “The construction of a new cell to bury the backlog of tires. This is because since that fire, we have not been accepting tires on the landfill.”
McLawrence says the corporation has also enforced stricter measures to increase the efficiency of the sanitary landfill.
“The corporation has been working tirelessly since the fire to organize the metals, white goods and derelict vehicle area in a more orderly fashion. We have signs where you can clearly see demarcated areas. This will not be like before; we’re going to be much more organized. We will have an attendant who will be giving instructions,” she explained.
She provided further insight into the corporation’s medium-term plan.
“We’re embarking on some research into the use of tire shredders which we have for some time now. We’re going to experiment with it on the landfill itself so we can use the shredded tires for the roadway and access roads on the landfill and from those results we will see if we can use it on a broader scale and partner with the Public Works Department for its use.”
The manager noted that as part of its long-term plan, the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation is looking into the exportation of shredded tires.
The Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation is also soliciting increased cooperation from the general public.
McLawrence concluded, “We would like to encourage the general public to practice recycling a s much as possible so there can be less waste coming into the landfill. It is not a dump; there is a management system and rules which the public is urged to follow. There is security, a landfill manager and an office which you can call for information.”
What about that Retreading company in canefield that is partner with the dominica solid waste according to cbn4 news. Take the tire to those guys, I’m sure they have alot more experience, link-up and knowledge to recycle a few thousand tyres.
Carcon, the tires that end up at landfill are not fit for retreading anyway. We import so many used tires and secomds, other countries’ cast offs already. New tires are so expensive because of heavy import duty so we are punishing people for buying safer equipment. There should be less duty on new tires to encourage people ti buy them instead of old ratoon that fills up our garbage dump before time.
I hope this not just talk but tire is big business everywhere in the world it can be added to asphalt it can be added to playgrounds so we can keep mosquitoes at bay instead of a breeding ground, now what happen to the investigation of the incident? just like the boat Bowdel that got burnt in a secured gov. property no report on this from since then, or that COHA report the man claimed it would not take that long to do an open report as to what went wrong to this day not a word, am getting tired of things like this just dying with no word.
I support you on that. Tires should not be burnt in the open and to do so borders on criminal irresponsibility. Burning tires are notoriously difficult to extinguish and release lethal toxins and carcinogens (cancer inducing substances) into the air such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, lead, arsenic, butadene and styrene. A poisonous soup that has a long-term detrimental effect on our public health. Anybody found setting fire to tires in public should be subject to prosecution.