Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 23, 2019 (SKNIS): The procurement of three 20 yard McNeilus Compactors will assist the Solid Waste Management Corporation in its quest to manage waste and be more effective in its garbage collection process according to Ivor Keithley Phillip, General Manager of the Corporation.
“The procurement of those vehicles was intended to stave off any difficulties that we may have in terms of the collection,” said Mr. Phillip, while recalling the challenge faced in 2008 thereabout where all the trucks in use at that time were damaged. “So, for a period of about two to three weeks we had a built up of waste. The directorate of the Solid Waste determined that at this time it was best for us to build redundancy into what we do, and in an effort to do that the Corporation acquired those trucks so that we would be in a position to effectively carryout our mandate.”
Mr. Phillip explained that unlike the older trucks, the new ones do not have hydraulic lift to easily pick up garbage bins.
“These [new] trucks do not. We bought them specifically. The prior trucks that we had had the lifts and in short order because of the topography of our country, the layout of the roads, those were broken off in quick time, and so for this order we did not go ahead with that specific functioning,” said the general manager. “Another thing, in order for us to do that there must be uniformity of the bins and so because we are not at that stage yet, then it is not a critical function for us to be able to do that.”
The trucks are equipped with various sounds to alert people of their arrival. For safety purposes, they are also equipped with twin cab to seat everyone inside the truck’s cabin.
In addition to the three new trucks, St. Kitts-Nevis Disposals (SKANDIS), D&D Services and Admiral’s Enterprises Ltd were contracted by SWMC to assist with garbage collection.
Jamella Christopher, Senior Manager for Human Resource and Communications, said that although the institution received new trucks “there was still the need for the smaller trucks. You would recognize them by their colours, and they are different from us because their trucks are smaller,” she added.
To date, SWMC has five trucks in operation. Garbage collection is done twice daily from Monday to Friday and once on Saturdays for assigned areas. Solid Waste trucks operate mostly in the rural areas because their trucks are larger and can accommodate a lot more.