A resident of Portsmouth is up in arms about what he described as the ‘improper manner’ in which garbage is being collected in the area.
The resident expressed concern about the “many health risks” involved and wants the matter to be addressed immediately.
“The truck that collects the garbage is a rear end loader and we all know that it rains almost everyday in Dominica,” the resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, explained to Dominica News Online.
“The men doing the collection would simply pick up the bins or containers with the garbage and toss it at the rear of the truck. The second this is done, the water mixes with the rotting garbage and a stench develops which simply flows out of the rear of the truck like a water hydrant left open, unto the streets,” lamented the Portsmouth resident.
He added that the truck then moves on to do more collection leaving a long wet smelly line of garbage water on the streets of Portsmouth and neighbouring communities.
To further compound the problem, said the resident, it appears that only one truck serves the area and two weeks ago it suffered mechanical problems resulting in piles of rotting garbage, especially in Glanvillia.
He is now asking those responsible to ensure maintenance of the truck and to find a way to prevent the unhealthy spilling of garbage water onto the streets.
Attempts to contact the Portsmouth Town Council and other relevant authorities have proved futile.
I hear some people putting poo poo in de rubbish.
I have a similar problem in the village where I live. Rubbish is left by the roadside for more than a week before the truck comes and collect it.Furtthermore when the garbage is collected by the men bits of trash is left behind.
it look like i need to exspand this is something that i am looking at i own r wast management company would like to look at the need of needs of dominica
it all boils down to “Education”the same way the politicans waste time lieing to people with promises they never keep and spend big money doing that,the people in charge should try and get money and time from the media houses to spread and continually remind the public of the important of, ‘the pracptise of good health’.not enough time is spent on the important things in our lives, as simple as it may be.A huge thing starts small,and grow big in time.WE are our worst enemies.
Mister making all type of statement and requests but he fraid reluctant to express his name. What he fraid?
He’s a newsflash, garbage stinks, get over it.
well if it was u that was experiecing that problem u would be singing a different tune
how they use to pick up garbage before is not how they picking it now before they use to have broom and and dust pan but now they just send de garbage in the truck DA really coming up side down am filling so sad for us
Do you know that the sanitation workers are given brooms and shovels to clean the area after they have collected the garbage? They also are given gloves, mask and reflector jackets which some them don’t use. To every time garbage is being picked up instead of the palce smells good it smells horrible and a trail of dirty water mark on the streets.
Boy!! DNO GOOD EH!!
I KNOW EH….
Where is Wikileaks
The Portsmouth Town Concil must work with the Ministry of Health/Public Health Department and the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation to ensure that residents of Portsmouth are properly educated on how to dispose of their garbage prpoerly.
People must themselves take responsibility to learn about sorting garbage by categorising their garbage for disposal… plastics, paper/cardboards, tins/cans, bottles, food wastes, trees cuttings/grass, liquid wastes such as oils, lubricants, biomedicals, white goods, computer supplies, derelict vehicles, metals etc… have different collection days etc… the council must show that they workiing papa bondieur especially now the parl rep and the mayor are buddies. have they gotten the tipper truck yet? have they iincreased staff or replaced those who retired? are the people paying their taxes? Ross University? the picard landlords? all these monies could be used to help to improve garbage collection and educate the residents… well bondieur oh, it seems like we just waitiing for a cholera outbreak to blame somebody… oh oh.
The truck should be washed ever day to try and stop this smelling which is all over the country….
People don’t want to pay for their garbage to be collected …
it happens everywhere in the caribbean but we have to strive to be better.
D. N.O it have worst news happening in dominica stop chcking a gabage truck and tell them people to bag the rubish propely and stop useing them drums that collecting water and cover the garbage bin so water will not get in them.In the big country i have seen worst than that.
Obviously, you seem to be ignorant to the fact that Garbage is the cause of many health outbreaks in many countries like India, Haiti etc. Is that how you want Dominica to become. The island is already very dirty to be the nature isle in the Caribbean. Come on man, if you don’t have anything to write about then just stay puut!
i agree that gabage causes health problems but i wont agree with you that da is as dirty as u are saying.
also i think in every village in da we should make the effort as residents to keep our communities clean
This is a health Hazard and garbage should be picked up more often. Give people an earliest time to put out garbage and provide resources to colect it.
For ex.the city should say ” residents should not put out their garbage before 5pm on Tuesdays and On Wednesday morning from 5am the truck should start collecting.. have the job done before most people are outside and the sun is burning hot. ”
Also, Recycle and compost can cut down on the amount of garbage
You need to read the article again.
And the Minster said we are “prepared” to deal with cholera if it shows it ugly head? There are a number of villages in Dominica (especially Sen Joe – yeah, I said it) that it is but for the grace of God why there has not been a major outbreak of some illness like Hep A or Cholera. It’s not just rotten garbage that makes it way to the trash … we need to do a better job of getting rid of our waste.
What we have to do is sought our garbage properly. Although we do not have recycling possibilities, we shoud begin by soughting our garbage- cans and plastics, food peelings, card board boxes, and so on. We can also pack our garbage properly in plastic bags and set them out on collection days. It is not always the authorities to take charge. We know better and want better so let us start with ourselves.
every where,every where .here in n.y you can smell the gabbage truck from miles.although gabbage is picked up on a regular basis.
well if dominicans were paying their garbage fees like some other countries, then DSWMC would be better able to buy more trucks, help maintain the trucks, maybe even little water trucks with disinfectant to service the entire country. perhaps they corporation could even look into night time collection when traffic is lighter…. least you guys are regular customers keep your mouth shut cause it takes a lot to maintain a clean and green country as we promote with so little funds. we as dominicans need to be a little more appreciative. everybody is responsible for his or her own garbage, you see smart bins all around town, yet persons pass and burn them, willfully damage them and even bypass them and drop the garbage all over the place!
How can people pay for a service that is so inefficient? Solid Waste need to provide an effective, reliable and efficient service then put a system in place where people will be forced to pay if they are deliquent but until then, I really don’t think it is wise and fair to ask people to pay for a service that is really not a service at all. I think Solid waste need to educated the workers, especially the driver of the white truck. Sometimes he can be very disrespectful and bold.
I pay monthly garbage fees and there aretimes my garbage is back. It is suppose to be twice a week and there are times whn it is done once a week or no time in the week.
Solid waste need to improve on the garbage collection and get MORE & BETTER TRUCKS.
Agreed. in area where a daycare is placed garbage needs to be collected twice a week. why did it change to once a week? it should even be collected three times a week cause daycares have a lot of pampers and so forth. the more garbage is being collected the cleaner the area will become
well the thing is dominican people most of use dont want to pay for the service. Therefore the service offered will never be efficient. So dont cry when these sort of things happen.
Big high day,they compressing the garbage right in the presence of people leaving a bad smell which usually last for minutes
but is all you garbage you all afriad of the smell.
They need the right mechanism and engineer to eliminate this problem . And sadly they pick it up in broad daylight , ewww !!!!
yea just like all over the world
DNO, can you upload a sample of the smell please as proof, cause some people just say what they want.
lol
You have me cracking. lol
LOL….4 REAL
Portsmouth people here is an idea……solid waste has some lovely, durable garbage bins on sale purchase one to manage your waste for circumstances when the truck can’t come…..i bought one and it serves me well. 2. YOUR GARBAGE IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY….manage it properly, bag it, freeze your fish guts and dont put it out before the schedule day of collection. in my area if the garbage truck doesnt pass i simply put my bin back inside and not leave it on the roadside for dogs to make a mess. POSSY PPLE GET BINS AND MANAGE ALU GARBAGE PROPERLY!!!!
allu need 2 learn 2 bag allu garbage properly and cover the bins so wen it rains the garbage wont have water in it and also learn 2 put holes under the bins so if its not covered and water goes into in then it will drain right out so no allu place and help protect u all surroundin and the ppl that r workin and pickin up the garbage on the ISLAND
That’s something that can hardly be avoided. The same thing happens in NY, Maryland, Florida, Boston, London…You cannot avoid that…roll with it….Like you said it rain pretty often, eventually it will wash away.
the government needs to step in to subsidize the solid waste authority to assist in getting proper trucks for collection- d solid waste is operating with limited resources while the big men sit dere and complain. government help solid waste!!!!
This is obviously an islandwide issues that needs URGENT attention. I passed through the city of Roseau yesterday evening and it was the same problem. The stench was obvious throughout my journey there. The passenger in my car explained that it is because of the rain and I told him that I lived in a number of other Caribbean countries and we do not have this problem when it rains. I am begging the authorities to pay greater attention to garbage disposal around the island. The situation is making my stomach sick.
The guy who complained in this article mentioned that when it rains the water collects in the truck and then it mixes with the collected garbage and then the leakage leaves a stench behind. The odor and water is caused by your garbage itself, while it sits there for almost a weak. It releases water and sets in an odor. When ever there is precipitation, more water collects in your garbage container. Thus when the garbage is collected and tossed into the compacting truck that water is squeezed out of the garbage and in transporting is left behind on the street. The ones who said that this does not happen in other countries is a liar. The ones complaining should realize that this is a problem that occurs everywhere, within the Caribbean and abroad. I’ve seen it and smell it in NYC, Boston, London, all over….Like he said it pretty much rain everyday so I guess the rain will wash the stench and your sorrows away. Oh by the way the these jobs are available so if you are a complainer or unemployed, please apply and contribute to your country and your community…
ever realised that DA has a lot more rain than the other islands?
It’s not only in Portsmouth that is happening. I live in Canefield and I would tell these sanitary engineers that they should start collecting the gabbage from the top than starting from the lower part, then to continue collecting going up and when they would compress that stuffs all that dirty water would be leaving a stench all along the road, all that is unhealthy
go back to eating you all natural foods,and not all the imported crap thats one of the reason there is so much garbage to complain about.
STUPID COMMENT
I would like to support this concern because this is an ongoing problem and a health harzad in the town. There are certain areas in Portsmouth where garbage is collected every two weeks, sometimes even three weeks and there have been times when even once a month. This is a shame and it is very unhealthy. When the truck does come, the matter is even worsen because for hours the smell is unbearable because of the waste water it leaves behind. It hurts my heart to see the pile and piles of garbage all over the place and the length of time it stays before collection. Solid waste needs to do better than that and the ministry of health should look into the matter because it is a health hazard. Another matter than needs to be addressed is the problem of stray dogs and the people with those special breed dogs that allow them to all over the place without cleaning up after them. I think town council needs to communicate with Ross University to admonish the students with dogs to clean up after their dogs because in the states when they walk their dogs to go to toilet, they must have a bag to clean up their dog s and they come to our country and they allow their dogs to go off anywhere and they do not clean up after them. When I walk the streets, it is so disturbing to see dog shit all over the place and I know for a fact that most of it is done by dogs own by medical students. A communication should be sent to the school asking that the students be reminded to clean up after their dogs.
Oh nasty garbage water and dont talk about the odor that goes with it. Oh my I am sure there is a better way to do this. Those in charge please take note and train your guys plzzzzzz!
I didn’t see any dirt in the water?!
You dotish nuh. Because you don’t see dirty water doesn’t mean it clean. well go and drink it nuh!
Not only in Portsmouth, we have that problem in Town communities too.. Very unpleasant! Not to mention that the trucks sometimes pass at the worst times! This kind of job should be done on set days, and either very early in the morning or very late at night, when the flow of traffic has been significantly reduced.
No matter how it is picked up it is still burned. This includes styrofoam and plastics. So much for the reduced carbon footprint that the government referred to when talking about the geothermal project!
i guess if u knew a lil more about what going on in your country you would know that solid waste does not burn waste. secondly plastics are diverted from the waste stream by waste separation and picking in areas where separation is not yet introduced.
very well said
**EFFECTIVE MAYOR NEEDED**
If Portsmouth had an “effective Mayor” that problem would have been a NON-ISSUE!!
This is not a mayor issue. Since I was a little girl things have been so. No matter who the mayor is and will be nothing will change. People should learn how to dispose of waste matters. Stop pouring left over in your garbage especially when doing the dishes.
I am a diaspora and thought things had changed a bit but new generation same s$&?!.
it’s funny how Dominicans are afraid to speak out on issues of concern to them… most remain anonymous for fear of recrimination.
This none sense that solid waste is doing is nothing short of disgraceful and the powers that be should be ashamed both of the poor state of affairs at DSWMC and the poor state of the trucks.
That said, Dominicans need to learn to dispose of their garbage properly. Then again .. people that dont have money to buy food and pay rent cant afford to spend the little they have on garbage bags !!!
To remain anonymous is a normal thing on here… that’s why ypu have citizen kane on here of thats your real name either
Isn’t it ironic that you use the name “Citizen Kane?” I guess you are afraid also.
That one had me laughing.
Hahahahahahahaah
obviously i was referring to the individual making the complaint. It is more important that the complainant put a face to the name than me to my comment on his / her statement.
Regards ….
999
yes I can attest to that I am a resident of glanvillia and the truck comes once a month and if you driving behind the truck you better change coast look smell