A culture of littering

Apr 20, 2010 Editorial

There is need for a change in the culture of people. For perhaps too long in Guyana, people have grown accustomed to dumping their waste in any location. In rural Guyana, before garbage collection by the authorities, people learnt to place their garbage in a pile in their yards.
The enterprising converted this garbage pile to compost and sprouted excellent crops. Most simply burnt the piles when these became too large. But that could have been done in the rural areas. Houses were far apart and the smoke rarely posed a problem. When a neighbour complained the person setting the fire simply doused.
Most homes these days have garbage bins and people would dispose of their refuse for the collectors. Scraps of paper that littered the yard were swept up and disposed of. However, these same people who would keep their premises clean would resort to littering any other location.
A most disgusting site would be to be driving behind a vehicle and see garbage come hurtling through the window and onto the streets. This is often the norm. The result is that very soon litter is scattered across the streets and into the drains. The recent rains highlighted the extent to which garbage filled the drains. The streets flooded because the water had nowhere to go. Homeowners in the area of the flood suffered. They suffered damage to household equipment. There is no compensation because there is no flood compensation in Guyana.
Of course, when the great floods descended on the land in 2005, the government paid $10,000 to people in the affected areas. That was not intended to be a form of compensation but merely some flood relief. Unless there is another flood of that magnitude to blanket large sections of coastal Guyana there will be no compensation.
City Hall, before those two days of rains came, announced that it was prepared for the rainy season. Just how prepared it was, was exposed. It took a concerted by the City Engineers department to ferret out the blockages. What they found was mind-boggling. Styrofoam boxes, plastic bottles and pieces of cloth were in the drains blocking the waterways.
Earlier this week, City Hall discovered that two pontoons were blocking an outfall. Why this discovery was so long in coming is astonishing. City Hall had said that it was ready for the rains. The government has taxed the major users of plastic containers and the importers of Styrofoam to the tune of some $600 million per annum. This money goes toward budget financing. The Finance Ministry says that some of it goes back to City Hall.
For its part, though, the Council says that it should be allowed to collect all of the tax because catering to the pavement vendors is indeed a costly exercise. One would have expected that since such vending offers those who occupy the area a livelihood, they would have ensured that there is nothing to hinder their continued operation. They would have ensured proper garbage disposal at the end of the day. Instead, they leave litter behind and expect to return and find the place clean the next day.
City Hall now says that it would clamp down on the street vendors, perhaps to the extent of removing them altogether. This is going to spark a brouhaha and claims that the Council is preventing people from earning a living. There is going to be no talk of garbage disposal; no talk to their customers to be careful with their garbage.
The culture is to ignore the bins placed specifically for garbage collection. The seawalls become a mess on Sundays because those who gather there maintain the culture of dumping litter any which way except in the bins. And there is no one to correct the other.
In other countries where the penalty for littering is severe, people walk with their garbage bags and they ensure that waste is placed in them. Picnic scenes look almost pristine at the end of the outing because those who attend have undergone a change in culture. The very people who would readily litter in Guyana know that they cannot in the other country. There is a municipal court but the people prosecuted are few when one considers the volume of litter and garbage. If the culture is not going to be changed willingly then apply the laws.

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A culture of littering

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