An eagerly-awaited visit by a World Bank team to prepare a special hurricane debris project for financing from the St. Maarten Recovery Trust Fund is taking place this week (see related story). Processing construction and demolition waste, clearing remaining rubble in the country and removing boat wrecks from the lagoon as well as closing the “Irma dump” are among the goals.
If done well, this would at least bring the problem back to just one landfill, of which the management will also be improved. Urgent action to suppress the frequent fires there also is in the planning.
It’s also interesting to note in today’s paper that a new bid has been opened for security at that area of Pond Island, including the VROMI equipment yard. The conclusion seems to be that the current system is inadequate, as witnessed by the continued presence of unauthorised persons such as scavengers who sift through garbage in search of still-valuable items.
While one can sympathise with these obviously poor and separate people, who – it may be argued – do some “informal recycling” of their own, the practice is simply not tenable. For starters, several of them have been run over and tragically killed by heavy vehicles over the years.
Moreover, their continued presence constitutes a serious health risk to both themselves and the entire community. It also makes it very difficult if not practically impossible to effectively control the situation.
The time has come to get and keep these trespassers out once and for all.
