Operations at the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been “business as usual”.
Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Trevor Prescod, made this comment after a presentation of two small skips to residents of Parish Land, Christ Church, this morning.
He outlined that the SSA had been utilizing between 30 to 35 trucks on a daily basis in its operations.
Minister Prescod noted that prior to December 2019, the SSA had challenges with collecting garbage, as a result of the small number of available garbage trucks.
He added, since then, the collection of garbage had improved significantly, with the number of trucks moving from below 15 to almost 35 trucks.
Mr. Prescod said the SSA now has a policy which includes trucks being sanitized every morning before leaving the yard with sanitizers being placed on them as well.
He continued: “Sanitizers are placed at strategic points across the entire yard, and staff working on the trucks are provided with masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.”
He urged the public to sanitize the receptacles which they place their garbage in, and refrain from placing loose garbage in the receptacles.
Meanwhile, Minister Prescod, whose Ministry is also responsible for the ‘We Plantin’ More Than A Million” Tree project, said the programme had to be slowed down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, he added the Ministry had to find a way to regenerate interest in it. “We still have to make sure that we keep on track, but as a result of these challenges, including the drought, the Government now has to reconfigure it, in order to move forward,” he stated.