Haags Bosch Landfill site touted for cleaner, greener Guyana

Dec 30, 2014 News

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… citizens urged to recycle, separate waste to ease capacity

 

Four years after the opening of the much anticipated Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill site, the Local Government Ministry has reported positive outcomes from the waste collection area which has been touted as a vehicle for a “cleaner and greener” Guyana.
The Local Government authorities have claimed significant benefits from the garbage dumping area following the closure of the unsightly and unhealthy Mandela landfill site, which seemed to be taking over Le Repentir Cemetery, where it was located at the time.
The Haags Bosch facility is located aback of Eccles, East Bank Demerara and specially slated, according to authorities, to respond to various environmental and chemical changes that occur at dumpsites.
The Ministry said, “The site represents a significant improvement in the way Guyana’s solid waste is disposed.”
“The difference between the two waste disposal techniques (at Mandela and Haags Bosch) is substantial and marks a crucial turning point—both technically and culturally—in the waste management system. Not only is the Landfill specially constructed to safely contain waste and leachate, but its design and operation also reduces the incidence of pests and bad odours.”
According to the Ministry, the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill also allows for the better control of waste taken there as it can be separated according to type and disposed of appropriately.
The controlled separation of waste allows for the accumulation of data on the different types of waste being disposed of and could lead to the development and implementation of national solid waste disposal policies, such as recycling.
Guyana’s growing problem, it was noted, relates to the disposing of plastics, particularly soft drink and water bottles.  It was stated that plastics, metal, glass and certain other materials have value and their recovery for reuse and recycling can have significant economic advantages.
It was stated however, that as quick as the change from dumpsite to landfill site occurred, so must the cultural change, involving the landfill management, waste collectors and generators (citizens), for the long term part of the change. Such a change, Minister Whittaker noted, “Is needed in the attitudes and habits related to proper waste disposal that prevail in Guyana.”
It was pointed out, for example, that many citizens are not used to separating their waste and cannot reap the possible benefits that come from recycling waste. “By not separating the commercial, industrial and hazardous waste from the household waste they collect, local waste collectors create environmental and operational challenges for the Landfill,” it was expressed.
One of the ways citizens were advised to help with solid waste management is by separating the organic part of their household waste and composting it. “By separating this organic waste for composting, citizens can significantly reduce the amount of household waste taken to the Landfill for disposal.” Compost, is a rich soil enhancer.
Many of the country’s commercial and industrial enterprises were also accused of not properly storing the waste they generate; often mixing recyclables and hazardous waste which “makes it difficult to dispose of different waste types in an environmentally sound manner.”
A controlled landfill site can be an extremely important starting point to progressive change throughout the entire waste management system. Some procedures and control systems have however been met with opposition, especially the locations operating hours.
Persons have asked for extended time periods but according to the Ministry, unlike a dumpsite, “extended operating time of the Haags Bosch Landfill would be detrimental as the Landfill requires time for properly dealing with leachate, adequate compaction and covering at the end of the day that would not be possible with extended waste disposal hours.”
For this reason, waste collectors, and citizens in general, should adapt to the Landfill’s opening hours in the interest of having a better landfill by properly storing their waste in suitable receptacles until the scheduled waste collection occurs, it was advised.
The $4B Clean, Green Guyana Campaign was administered by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and funded by the Inter-American Development Bank; currently conducting a pilot with residents of Mocha, Friendship EBD, and Mon Repos, ECD.
Each of the cells in the landfill site has an area of 6.5 hectares (16 acres) and can accommodate garbage for 10 years from Timehri, East Bank Demerara to Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara. It caters for 15 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and Georgetown.

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