The journey to developing a new town/ Litter and Waste Management
On March 1, 2022 SJDC revamped its St. Johns City Caretaker Programme. Two persons were recruited to work as caretakers of St. John's City; Mr. Kelvin Anthony and Mr. Shevon Johnson. They are mainly responsible for litter picking and grass weeding and have been working in tandem with Solid Waste Management Authority and the Central Board of Health. Since their recruitment there has been significant improvement in the upkeep of the city. In addition to litter picking and weeding they have investigated and identified gutters and drains which have pungent smells. The corporation has invested heavily in cleaning agents to assit in mitigating the pungent smells in the city.
To make St John's City the model of the Caribbean providing amenities for the development and benefit of our stakeholders while creating an environment of excellence.
SJDC has also engaged the business community and has disseminated letters to inform and advise on the proper way to store and dispose of solid and food waste. The Solid Waste Management Authority garbage collections schedule was also distributed. This exercise gave the SJDC the opportunity to develop a business database for St. John’s City. There has also been greater collaboration between SJDC and NSWMA. Ms. Dianne Gordon and Ms. Wendy Ann Francis of NSWMA have been assisting SJDC, especially in the area of litter prevention and waste disposal. The city caretakers identify issues which are then reported to the Solid Waste Management Authority for their intervention and action. During one of the routine checks, it was discovered that there many food establishments in the city do not have grease traps installed. As a consequence, the grease and food particles are released directly into the gutters and drains and this contributes to the pungent smell. The Central Board of Health was also notified of this discovery. As a follow-up to these findings, a combined team of SJDC and CBH inspectors visited most of the restaurants within the city to create a database of these businesses as well as to further investigate the presence or lack of grease traps in these businesses. This exercise was very successful.