Week two of the Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC) National Clean Up Campaign, got positive reception from residents in the various communities that benefited from last weekend’s exercise. The second week of the campaign spanned communities from Ottley’s to Harris’ which saw the collection of bulky waste and old appliance and furniture at no cost to residents of those communities. SWMC spoke to some residents in the various communities over the weekend who gave all positive feedback on the initiative from the corporation. “It’s a very good initiative and on behalf of the community of Harris’, I would like to thank Solid Waste for affording us this opportunity to dump our waste in the bin that was placed here at our disposal. We appreciate the gesture very much and we hope that in the future, other bins will be placed in other communities too,” one lady from Harris’ said on Monday. A construction worker in Ottley’s said the initiative was a good one and he encouraged persons to capitalize on this opportunity to dispose of their bulky waste free of cost, as after the campaign ends, it will cost them to dump the garbage at the landfill. Another Ottley’s resident said: “You all are doing a perfect job and we love that.”
Meanwhile in Molineux, a male resident suggested that this initiative should be done regularly to give persons an opportunity to dump bulky waste from their homes. “Most of the people are not financially inclined so they don’t have the money to pay for transportation to transport the waste (to the landfill),” he said.
As the bins were filled with garbage, the SWMC bin truck was on hand to remove the bins, empty them and return the empty bin to the location for the collection of more garbage. The truck made several trips over the weekend, with the final collection on Monday. Big blue bins from D and D Waste Services were also placed in specified locations in the various communities, and these two were collected, emptied and replaced multiple times before the final collection on Monday. Valentine Heyliger, Collections Manager at the SWMC gave an insight into the operations on the first day of the campaign. “People have bene cooperating and persons were really glad that these bins were put out,” Mr. Heyliger said.
Ineta Lake, Collections Manager also gave an overview of the operations in Tabernacle to Harris.’ “People are encouraged, people are excited about it. Lot’s of people say they welcome the initiative and I think that we are going places with this,” Ms. Lake said.
The SWMC team was split in two groups that supervised the campaign throughout the weekend. This weekend, the campaign will run from St. Johnson Village to West Farm and Newton Ground to Saddlers. The National Clean Up Campaign is an eight weeks campaign designed to help residents clean their communities by removing bulky waste and old appliances free of cost, by placing bins at designated areas.