Tackling the problem of roadside derelicts is not just a solid waste concern.
Given the public health, traffic and environmental consequences associated with the growing problem of roadside derelicts, the GSWMA has sought the involvement of all stakeholders in addressing the issue, and it has succeeded.
The Government of Grenada through the Ministries of Mobilization, Implementation and Transformation, Health, Infrastructure Development & Transport, in collaboration with the Royal Grenada Police Force and the Grenada Solid Waste Management Authority have now joined forces to combat the matter of poorly discarded derelict vehicles on the nation’s public and private properties.
Ideally a derelict removal and processing program may have worked best with the establishment of a public private partnership as would happen in any area of waste/resource recovery which has been one of the objectives of the Authority’s Integrated Resource Recovery Department. However, in this case, as an appropriate partner cannot be found and as the problem of derelicts continues to escalate and present countless challenging issues, the stakeholder partnership is now seen as the best approach for Grenada at this time.
Derelict vehicles present some of the most challenging issues for disposal at our landfills and disposal sides, chief of which is their bulky nature and the discharge of chemicals including oil and gas in landfilled waste.
Recent surveys conducted throughout the state has indicated that there are approximately ten thousand derelict vehicles at various locations island wide as well as large and small parts of derelicts which are poorly stored and are contributing to a number of public health, environmental and other risks including obstruction to traffic leading to accidents and injury, potential to cause fires, encourages crime and other illegal operations.
As part of the Integrated Resource Recovery Initiative, the Authority has started the process of addressing the huge quantities of derelict vehicles with vast stakeholder support and which involves operations of a storage and processing facility at Calliste, St. George’s and a baling center at Queens Park in preparation for shipping.
The National Derelict Vehicle Clean-up Project commenced with a public education campaign which is ongoing and included the opening up of a hotline and secretariat for the receipt of information relative to the location of derelicts and requests for removal.
Tagging and removal are done by teams comprising officers from the RGPF, Ministry of Health, MIT, Physical Planning Authority and GSWMA.