The only reason government rushed to put out the Beetham fires was to clear the air for the energy conference scheduled to take place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.There are no plans to permanently close the dump. There are no plans to relocate the dump.There are no plans to technologically upgrade the dump into an efficient cost effective recycle facility.If something like that is done the stigma of thinking of Laventille/Beetham residents as disposable, thus unimportant, will shortly evaporate like smoke.Government who openly maligned Beetham residents as the arsonists who lit the fires now say, some 17 days later, that activities at the dump are to return as it was for the "sake" of residents.
Their livelihood comes from rummaging through toxic dump trash–medical waste, pharmaceuticals, rotted food, debilitating chemicals and metals. Government is okay with this.There won't be any change in management. No installation of recycling technologies.No upgrade in health and safety standards.No installation of technologies to control and harness output of methane gas given off by tons of decomposing garbage at the dump.Enough power was released in the uncontrolled 12-day methane burn to generate power to Beetham Gardens for several weeks.Will the energy conference people speak about tapping into this technology?No. Their agenda is to discuss profit sharing in mainstream energy production between themselves.Meantime, the wastage of waste and its valuable by-products is to stay enforce.
Sarah Parks,