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Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe (FP)

Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe, has vowed to call in the police to investigate and identify the owner of an industrial printer dumped near the Norman Niles Roundabout.

He made this statement during a press briefing at the Ministry’s headquarters located in the S.P. Musson Building on Hincks Street, St. Michael this morning to address a range of issues including littering.

"We are going to try to extract the serial number from that piece of equipment and we are going to ask that it be traced back to where it was purchased. I don’t believe it should be treated as a simple littering issue. I think the perpetrators of that act should be brought before the law courts.

"It is not a household printer, it is a big copy machine that somebody had to knowingly and with forethought decide to use that roundabout as the dumping ground for that piece of equipment," the Minister remarked.

He raised the question about who should be responsible for moving the piece of equipment. "Who moves it? Does Sanitation go and move it; they shouldn’t have to in my view. Should MTW [Ministry of Transport and Works] who has the remit for that space go and move it? They should not have to in my view.

"The persons who committed that act should be brought before the public and not just asked to pick it up and move it, but I think the consequence has to be more dire than that. It is not a good example for our children. It is not a good example for our citizens, and it is not a good example for our tourists," Dr. Lowe stated.

He added that the dumping of the printer also exposed the public to certain dangers as it carried parts that were hazardous to the environment. The Minister pledged to ask the Ozone Officer in his Ministry to examine the printer and itemise parts which may pose a danger to the society.

Dr. Lowe made it clear that whether it was a snocone cup, a cardboard box, some other piece of debris, or a copy machine, littering was an obscenity that spoke about the morality of people. He explained that such actions defined to the value set of people, how they saw their country, how they saw their environment and how they saw themselves.

"Our Ministry is going to continue to do its work to ensure that we bring the best practices of environmental management and governance to our island, and that we assist wherever is necessary in following those protocols and practicising those values," he said.

julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb

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