Garbage collection fee in the Grenadines

EDITOR: The garbage collection service in the Grenadines is an excellent one and the $10.00 per month fee is way below the collection cost. The question is, “Why is this fee not usually paid?”

Some people say that “good things ain’t cheap and cheap things ain’t good.” Could it be that the fee is not paid because it is too low. Light bill is $250, Phone bill is $120, and water bill is about $100 per month. During the dry season many people must buy water.

There was a plan to tag the Environmental (garbage) fee onto the light bill but that did not seem to work out, although some persons feel that it is perhaps now being done through the “other charges,” called the fuel surcharge. Additionally, there seems to be no legal means of collecting the fee. A tenant of mine was taken to court for the payment of the fee. I was told to pay the fee and the monies would be recovered after the case went through all its stages. In the end no monies were recovered.

As long as we are alive, we generate waste and garbage, so the $10 fee is more than reasonable. Even if we live in outlying areas, we should pay the fee. Some people walk with their garbage and place it in the nearest accessible bin.

We must make every effort to reduce waste by reusing, recycling and composting. Materials such as glass can be broken and used in the construction industry, biodegradable materials should be composted at the household level and those that can be reused should be treated accordingly.

To enforce payment of the environmental fee, people accessing government services should be required to present a current paid bill. Salaries, public assistance, NIS, travel and any other ingenious methods of compliance encouragement should be implemented. As a last resort, the names of payers of the environmental fees should be published.

Anthony G. Stewart, PhD