As the Grenada Solid Waste Management Authority moves to ensure the efficient and successful functioning of the new Compliance and Enforcement Unit (CEU) within the GSWMA, head of the department Mr. Godfrey Fleming has noted the need for a collaborative approach with key stakeholder institutions to address issues specific to non-compliance to waste management regulations.
Such compliance he says will require the support of those law enforcement units and authorized officers whose work involves effecting various bits of legislation pertaining to waste management and which include but not limited to waste collection and disposal procedures, waste transportation, illegal dumping and pollution, littering, vending, festivals and public events, physical development, management of special waste, storage and disposal of oils, derelicts, biomedical waste and waste from garages, construction sites, the commercial and industrial sectors etc.
The GSWMA in an effort to introduce stakeholder institutions to the work of the compliance unit, held its inception meeting with representatives from the Royal Grenada Police Force, Ministry of Health- Enviromental Health Department and the Planning and development Authority.
The CEU has so far collaborated with the leading stakeholder groupings for the execution of interventions to address illegal dumping, illegal occupation of public spaces for scrap metal processing, public health concerns emerging from improper waste management at garages and storage of waste on residential properties and investigation into improper disposal of commercial waste among other areas.
Stakeholder grouping at the inception meeting agreed on concepts for collaboration and driving the agenda of the CEU for effecting relevant legislation to encourage voluntary compliance to waste management regulation and where infractions occur ensure the speedy resolution or legal action to address the said issue/s. The unit which was established in November 2023 will become fully functional with a team of compliance and enforcement officers, remote and physical monitoring equipment, and service vehicles in March this year. The Authority is in the process of recruiting officers to serve in the CEU in effort to cover the entire state of Grenada.