THE EDITOR, Sir:

We would like to use this medium to express the concerns of the Jamaica Association of Public Health Inspectors (JAPHI) about the inadequate collection and disposal of solid waste across the island.

Reports from several parish health services indicate an increase in the number of complaints received related to poor solid waste management both directly and indirectly.

In doing our assessment of the situation, we recognise that there are several factors contributing to these problems that are not being adequately addressed by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

Inadequate storage

While we appreciate that there is deterioration in civic pride among our population that contributes to the indiscriminate disposal of solid wastes in gullies, lanes, along roadways and on vacant lots, we have to accept the fact that the number of waste storage containers and their locations in public areas and some townships is woefully inadequate.

In some areas where residents and business operators have provided storage containers, the collection system has been very inconsistent. We have noted that the NSWMA has published collection schedules.

However, such schedules are not being adhered to, while towns and communities across the island are left competing with refuse for space, insects and rodents thrive while the health and well-being of the population is at stake.

There is also increasing concern that the growing scrap metal industry is contributing significantly to the volume of solid waste that must be disposed of.

Fragments from the salvaging of the metals are left behind or indiscriminately disposed of in areas where they eventually become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and rodents.

Discarded water-holding containers and piles of garbage facilitate the accumulation of stagnant water providing numerous breeding sites for mosquitoes.

Improving the situation

Currently, the Ministry of Health's efforts to control outbreaks of leptospirosis, dengue fever and malaria are being seriously hampered by the inadequate solid waste management system that exists. We suggest that the stuation can be improved by more intense inter-sectoral collaboration, more public education, enforcement of regulations, more collection containers, soliciting the participation of the local government authorities, and creation of incentives to encourage collection crews and communities to see solid waste management as ital civic functions.

Our membership is committed to prevention and control of communicable diseases and will continue to monitor the storage, collection and disposal of solid wastes. A letter in these terms has been forwarded to the executive director of the NSWMA, Joan Gordon-Webley.

I am, etc.,

BASIL G. WRIGHT

President JAPHI