Lethem gets EPA approval for sanitary landfill site

Oct 07, 2018 News

─ Once out of hand dumpsite in Lethem now under control

The site cleared of garbage.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted a conditional approval to the Mayor and Town Council of Lethem, Region Nine, as the local government authorities continue to strive for improved solid waste management in the municipality.

Following an intervention by the Ministry of Communities to assist the Lethem municipality, a service contract to the tune of $36.3M was awarded to International Imports and Exports to manage the town’s solid waste for 18 months. A site, which was once an eyesore overflowing with waste and unpleasant smell, is now a thing of the past. All the waste has been removed and is now under control. The contractor began working on the site in March 2018.

On Thursday, a team of engineers from the Ministry of Communities visited the site and expressed satisfaction of its current state. Senior Engineer attached to the Sanitation Management Unit, Satro Nauth the role of the contractor.

“The contractor is responsible for providing a machine to accept the waste, compact the waste and cover the waste at the end of the day. He has been doing a good job so far maintaining the site, keeping record on the amount of waste that comes and who disposes of the waste.”

However, according to Nauth, when the contract comes to an end, the site is expected to be developed into a sanitary landfill facility. He stated that the “site has gotten conditional approval from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). We did some groundwork for the development of a sanitary facility so we are running the service contract and our intention is to develop it into a sanitary facility.”

In addition, Nauth said that the idea is to develop the site to the standard similar to the sites in Linden Region Ten, Mahdia Region Eight and Bartica Region Seven.

Mayor of Lethem, Kerry Jarvis commended the initiative since the past state of the site affected the health and well-being of the residents. However, the Mayor noted that despite Lethem being a new town, they will be able to conquer solid waste management with the help of the ministry.

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