Laws needed to manage waste

WITH the goal of beating plastic pollution, Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) chairman Edwin Gooding last week called for proper legislation to deal with waste management. Speaking at the launch on Friday of the PTSC’s Public Sector Recycling Programme (PSRP), Goodwin said citizens are ready for recycling.

“Recycling in TT is so critical to what we do. We have a very high travelling public and when they go away (abroad) they know they cannot throw things on the floor, they cannot put bottles in particular bins, people are also informed and educated.

“We need to get some legislation in place. Legislation is needed to ensure if we don’t do it voluntarily, there will be a framework within which we will be held responsible for how we dispose of our waste. With the legislation it will provide the ability to enforce: if you don’t comply there will be a legal penalty for not complying. Legislation always helps to make sure things gets done the way it’s supposed to be.”

Goodwin said 70 per cent of waste which goes to the dump is recyclable, and on an island, where space is limited, if 70 per cent of the waste is removed from the dump, it will have a great impact on the entire country.

He said the PTSC was starting by placing bins throughout its Port of Spain compound and then to all its offices in the country, including Tobago. “If citizens go further by recycling tyres, oils, and lubricants which are taken up across the country it will take an additional 20 per cent out of the dump. He also wanted to see schoolchildren across the country get involved in recycling.

“Children should become disciples of recycling, because that is what the future holds. Once they are brought up understanding how important it is to cherish our environment, I think TT would be on the right road.”