KINGSTON, JAMAICA: Meat illegally dumped at Riverton as people refuse to pay fee

BY CLAUDIENNE EDWARDS Obserever writer edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com  Wednesday, April 15, 2015    

SEVERAL people have been 'beating' the system that requires the payment of a fee for the proper disposal of meat at the Riverton dump in Kingston.

Riverton Dump (FILE PHOTO)

This short cut causes hundreds of pounds of spoilt meat sent to the dump returning to the streets where it is sold to unspecting consumers at low prices, with purchasers apparently unaware of the threat to their health.

Dr Debbie Carrington, medical officer at the Kingston and St Andrew (KSA) Public Health Department, told the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) council meeting yesterday.

Meat deemed to be unsuitable for human consumption is supposed to be denatured by treatment with a substance to render it unsuitable for consumption, then buried at the Riverton disposal site under the supervision of the Public Health Department, Dr Debbie Carrington of the KSA Public Health Department told yesterday's council meeting of the KSAC.

Percy Stewart, the acting executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), told the meeting that persons who refused to pay the NWSMA for the proper disposal of rotten meat have been taking it to the dump where it is improperly disposed of.

He told the council that persons, when caught dumping meat illegally at the dump, are ticketed, but did not say how often perpetrators are caught.

Outlining the procedure for dumping unsuitable food, Stewart said that the first step is for the Public Health Department to contact the NWSMA. more