SPTC is temporarily burning garbage at the island’s dump

To help reduce the massive amount of garbage accumulated at the town’s dump, The San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) has once again resorted to the burning trash. According to Mayor Daniel Guerrero, following the Garbage Transfer Station’s temporary cease of operations in January of this year, this is the alternative until a solution is found.
Many garbage transfer stations across the country were affected after PASA Belize Limited (a Mexican Waste Management Company), responsible for transporting the waste from transfer stations, suddenly announced that they were ceasing operations on January 9th. However, days later, the Belize Solid Waste Management Authority, who is in charge of the transfer stations, along with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment and Sustainable Development resumed the station’s operations.
During this time, the transfer station on Ambergris Caye continued receiving garbage as usual, while the situation was being sorted out. By the time the green light was given to start shipping it off the island, the station was overloaded with waste.
Mayor Guerrero has stated before that if operations at the station were to shut down permanently, the SPTC would go back to burning garbage. He told The San Pedro Sun that even though the station has resumed its day to day functions to get rid of garbage from the island, the amount is too big for them to get rid of. “We are burning trash again, but it is temporary as the transfer station cannot get rid of the garbage in a timely manner,” said Guerrero. “There is too much garbage accumulated there. But after we assist the transfer station in getting rid of the excess, we will stop burning.”
It is expected that in upcoming weeks, the old practice of burning will stop and the SPTC hopes not to return to it in the future. The situation with PASA and the Government is still uncertain, but all operations on the transfer stations countrywide continue as per normal. Guerrero also indicated that they continue working hard in keeping the island clean. He also announced that the SPTC is looking forward to the arrival of another trash compactor to assist its Sanitation Department.