This is how Public Utilities Minister Ancil Antoine has described the conditions that workers at the Beetham landfill are operating under daily.
Standing a few feet away from an open sewer located outside the male and female washrooms yesterday, Antoine promised to provide immediate relief for the workers by ensuring that the water supply which was disconnected two years ago was restored; and that an improved electricity supply was made available.
Vowing to take a note to Cabinet next week detailing the plight of the workers, Antoine said interim measures would include paving the compound yard in order to reduce the dust and mud; refurbishing the cafeteria, office and recreational facilities; upgrading the bathrooms and change rooms; as well as the laundry area and various work bays.
Antoine said, “That is something that I am looking forward to bring to my Cabinet colleagues for the immediate relief of the sanitation workers at the landfill, so I don’t think I will have problems putting through the request.”
Halfway through his fact-finding visit to the landfill, which began around 10 am, Antoine agreed that the conditions were “inhumane, but we could improve it.”
Accompanied by officials of the Solid Waste Management Company Ltd (SWMCOL) and the Industrial General and Sanitation Workers Union (IGSWU), Antoine toured the facility as he heard of the mosquito and pigeon infestation; the non-existent water supply; the lack of modern equipment and protective clothing; the unsanitary conditions which included non-functional toilets; polluted river water often used to wet the general yard; the extensive collection of derelict vehicles; and the general lack of facilities for workers.
Revealing that the Government had a comprehensive plan for waste management facilities at Beetham, Guanapo and Forres Park, Antoine said a special committee had been convened by Cabinet to formulate forward-thinking strategies in this area.
This committee was said to include officials and technocrats from the ministries of Rural Development and Local Government; Planning and Development; Energy and Public Utilities.
Adding that he would soon be taking a note to Cabinet inviting expressions of interest for the construction of a Waste to Energy Plant at the Beetham landfill, Antoine said future initiatives included the establishment of a recycling plant, also at Beetham, making this location the leading waste station in terms of government’s future plans for waste development in the country.
Elaborating on parts of the macro plan regarding waste management, Antoine said the Government recently secured US$10 million to address the problems of leaching at the Guanapo landfill.
Concern has surfaced about the ability of local landfills which are not lined to retain leachate which is the liquid that results from the decomposition of waste.
Adding that the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government was set to take over the portfolio of waste collection while his ministry would be tasked with landfill management, Antoine said they had to get serious about reducing the amount of waste that was being generated and get involved in transforming it into usable energy.
Antoine said this would tie in with future plans to develop a power complex in the El Socorro/Barataria area, which would reduce the dependence on the supply from the South and feed the North-west corridor and Tobago.
Providing a first-hand account of the issues faced by long-suffering employees, president of the IGSWU Robert Benacia expressed hope that Antoine would deliver on his promises as he said workers were prepared to stop protesting and return to work as a sign of good faith.
Highlighting the myriad problems which he claimed successive governments had failed to address, Benacia said the current SWMCOL board, which was only installed in January, wanted to do the right thing and improve the working conditions but was severely constrained in terms of funding.
Subjecting the minister to a very candid look at the deplorable conditions, Benacia said, “We are the leaders in waste management but there are contractors around the country raping the Treasury and treating the workers like they are slaves.”
He said the 200-plus workers at various landfills endured the conditions as they were committed to providing an essential service to the population.
However, he said, the time had come for Government to do its part to improve the infrastructure for the workers and the security guards who preserve law and order at the different sites.
Benacia also suggested ways of reducing SWMCOL’s dependency on government funding with the immediate introduction of a tipping fee.
A gate fee or tipping fee is the charge levied upon a given quantity of waste received at a waste processing facility.
In the case of a landfill, it is generally levied to offset the cost of opening, maintaining and eventually closing the site.
Having received no increase in the budgetary allocation for the past eight years, SWMCOL’s chief executive officer Ronald Roach said, “A lot of the things we are doing is below standard and we need to address it.”
Admitting that some of the problems pointed out yesterday were easy fixes, Roach said some others required increased funds to rectify.
He said SWMCOL needed approximately $120 million per year to adequately carry out its operations, but they had been forced to operate on $75 million since 2009.
Declaring that this was “woefully short,” Roach said the World Bank had calculated that a country with the reported level of income of T&T should have a daily waste disposal budget that ranged between a minimum of US$40 per tonne and a maximum of US$100 per tonne.
Revealing that T&T was currently operating at US$17 per tonne, Roach said legislation was also another way to ensure that the population followed the regulations.
Heartened by the minister’s appearance yesterday, many of the workers at the site said they were eager to witness the transformation of the facility which, they claimed, had been neglected for too long.