Improperly discarding certain types of garbage in the nation’s waterways during the hurricane season is one of the more common mistakes people make at this time of the year, according to Operations Manager at SWMC Mr. Wilmon McCall. “They start to discard certain things that can hover around as missiles. And what do they do with them? Sometimes (they throw garbage) in the ghauts…I am always appealing the general public that putting things in the ghauts is the wrong thing,” McCall said. He said when garbage blocks the ghauts, the water flowing from the mountains and hills will take a different pathway which could flood homes and other areas. “It will cause erosion somewhere, it will dig out another spot just to get by and it could impact our housing stock. It could also cause our arable lands to be washed into the sea…do not dispose of your undesirables into the ghauts,” declared Mr. McCall.

Mr. McCall also noted that pruning trees is also not a good idea during the hurricane season. “Before a hurricane, some people start to clean. Bad time. They start to trim trees, prune trees and so on. It’s too close to a hurricane, it is more damaging,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. McCall reiterated calls for people to secure their bins ahead of a hurricane. “Some people have their bins on the outside of their property. Those must be fortified to withstand the ravages of the hurricane otherwise your bin could be found two miles away. In order to eliminate that sort of problem, we ask patrons to secure their bin in the event of a hurricane,” he explained.

On an even more serious note, he also asked persons to secure their cooking gas cylinders as these could become dangerous missiles during a hurricane. “That is very dangerous as it could cause a fire with the gas escaping,” he said.

Mr. McCall urged garbage truck drivers to be on the alert of increased garbage disposal in the aftermath of a hurricane. “Drivers for trucks, they must be mobilized given the fact that after a hurricane, everything goes to the landfill…that’s why we ask our members to be cognizant of that fact. The landfill must be open, we have to look at damages, we have to look at repairing of damages and fitting ourselves for the onslaught of waste,” Mr. McCall said.