Garbage Grabs Guana's Attention

Guana residents united on May 6 when they were confronted with the town garbage piled alongside the water front road on the harbour. The existing dump on the Orchid Bay property had been put off limits by the owners, leaving the garbage contractor with nowhere to deposit the trash.

When the contractor, who works for Orchid Bay, dumped the garbage alongside the roadway and tempers collectively rose. The town banded together, took 14 pickup truck loads, including a dumpster container, and deposited the entire mess back on the old swamp site inside the Orchid Bay property.

A new dump site is under consideration on 18 acres of government land on the northwest end of the island adjoining the Baker"s Bay property. However, it is expected to be several months before this new site is available as legal proceedings must run their course for a road right-of-way across private property to gain access to the site. Several miles of road from town to the site need to be widened and improved along with necessary landfill preparations.

A hastily called meeting brought the Hope Town District Council to Guana Cay. Guana and Man-O-War are members of this Council. Administrator Everette Hart and M.P. Robert Sweeting also were present. A nearly two-hour closed meeting was held followed by a one-hour public meeting under the fig tree with 60 persons waiting the outcome.

Suggestions for barging the garbage to Marsh Harbour, as is done by Man-O-War, were not acceptable to those gathered. Furthermore, there was not money available, equipment or staff to separate, burn, shred and ship trash that could not be handled locally. Man-O-War has refined its system over the years with a dedicated site manager making the system work. A key component, purchased by community donations, is a 50 HP shredder which converts yard and land clearing trash to useful mulch.

Several portable bins are being used by Guana Cay to send household garbage to Marsh Harbour. However, many times the containers came back half full of Marsh Harbour garbage put in the empty bins by persons cleaning up the Marsh Harbour dock area. With Guana Cay"s growth, the bins are becoming inadequate. Central Abaco"s Chief Councillor Silbert Mills was at this public meeting and objected to Guana Cay taking its garbage to the Marsh Harbour dump site which is maintained from his Council"s budget.

He asked, but did not get an answer, if they were prepared to contribute to the maintenance of the Central Abaco dump site. He did concede that money would be found if the garbage ended up at the Marsh Harbour dump.

To add to Guana Cay"s problem is the lack of public land anywhere on the cay, either inland or at the waterfront by a public dock. When bins are used, they must be positioned at a dock for the barge to lift them aboard with its crane. Mr. Hart proposed that the residents form a town improvement committee and collect donations toward more bins, for paying the associated freight costs for shipping the containers to Marsh Harbour and the subsequent trucking to the dump site.

This would be a temporary measure until the court proceedings allowed the new site to be accessed. Local government is not allowed to levy taxes or collect money. However, a private welfare committee could accept donations toward town affairs in a similar way to how a PTA operates.

Those assembled seemed to accept this possible solution for some distant point in time but they wanted a temporary solution for today and tomorrow.

Mr. Hart twice made a point of telling the group that he had no authority to either allow or recommend that they return to the Orchid Bay site. It seemed clear that once the officials left the island, the residents were willing to risk the consequences of using the old site until another one was operational. Residents have been using the present site for 35 years and they saw no reason to alter that policy without another location available.

Residents and business owners seemed somewhat willing to explore donations for future trash handling methods, perhaps a shredder, an incinerator, and definitely a site manager.

The rapid growth of Guana Cay is generating garbage and trash faster than local government has been able cope with the problem. Until recently there was no government land available to even consider for a dump site. Within the last two years, an 18-acre parcel was forfeited to government ownership from a holding company that had been inactive for over 20 years. The site is beyond the Guana Seaside resort and a piece of private land.

Government had hoped to work with the owner of this private piece and acquire a right-of-way to the 18 acres on the other side. Objections by the land owner have now caused government to begin the legal acquisition process which must wind its way through the courts. Had a right-of-way been granted, Mr. Hart said money is available to improve the road and prepare the site immediately but now the process must await court action.

Several persons said the present site has been used for many years and is on an interior swamp. They felt that several more months of use until the new site is made available would not make much difference. They brought out that even the new Orchid Bay restaurant will be generating garbage that will have to be put somewhere.

Those present wanted no part of any change at this time. Not using the old site while waiting for either a new site or bins and money for moving the garbage to Marsh Harbour would only exaggerate the problem as the daily garbage would continue to pile up in yards and roadsides.

The mood of the crowd definitely supported the continued use of the Orchid Bay swamp site until the new site was available. They cited several reasons for continuing with the old site.

• It is an interior swamp with no connection to the ocean or sound. Since it is landlocked, it is a nursery only for land crabs.
• Opinions were expressed that since it was a swamp, it was government land and not part of the Orchid Bay land.
• Government has maintained the road into the site for the 35 years the dump has been used.
• There has been no effort by land owners in years past to assert ownership by blocking public access to the site annually as required to maintain ownership. Present access to the new 18-acre parcel is only available by walking the beach or by boat on the bay side. Additionally, persons who are familiar with the government parcel say it is two-thirds mangrove swamp with water access to the bay. Also on the bay side of this site is a small piece of government land, better described locally as a government swamp. It was generally acknowledged that within the 18 acres is high land suitable for a proper landfill dump.