Richard Simms said resources had not increased for more than a decade, despite the growing population and the amount of garbage being generated. As the committee turned its attention to the more than CI$6 million annual budget to collect rubbish, it emerged that it would still not be enough to end the garbage troubles.

Simms explained that eleven new garbage trucks had been ordered to be delivered over this forthcoming budget period. Although the DEH currently has 14 trucks, only eight are in good condition, he said. The rest will be retired, so they will still be short of the 21 truck target.

Simms said new staff were being recruited but it emerged that this would not be enough to increase operations. He explained that he had asked for a bigger budget so that they could increase the headcount but was only given enough to recruit three new drivers.

As opposition members teased out the evident staff shortage, Environmental Health Minister Dwayne Seymour said that while the members were “onto something”, the department needed reliable trucks before they could employ more people.

Simms said the staffing problems meant his department had to be “creative” by using the temporary use of private sector collection services and using prisoners as support staff on the trucks. But he said the department needed more people, given the importance of garbage collection to everyone and its role in supporting tourism with a clean environment.

The minister said he was committed to doing what was necessary to make sure the DEH gets the full complement of staff it needs, but admitted again that there had been a lot of embarrassment about the garbage collection problems.

Seymour said the new director was doing his best to deal with the situation with what he had and the ministry would do whatever was necessary to make sure he had what he needed. However, the minister failed to answer the question of why he wasn’t doing it now.

In response to questioning, the director also stated that there was no long-term or overarching policy plan for garbage collection and recycling.

Updating members on the more than two-year talks about the full waste-management plan and the waste-to-energy facility with the preferred bidder, Seymour said the capping will begin in the new year. He said this would prevent the dump from leaching when it rains, and the energy facility would be built alongside that process. A holding area on the landfill would be used for the rubbish until the plant was finished.

Jim Schubert, the project manager on the proposed waste-management solution, said that the talks were not about increases in costs but technicalities, logistics and functionality. He said that the final contract price would be the same as the bid.

Schubert was unable to explain the decision not to mine the landfill before capping it to reduce the mound and feed the new incinerator, helping it generate more fuel to reduce costs. He said it was decided several years ago over the nuisance level, but he had not made the decision. However, he did say that say the methane and other garbage gases would be mined.

No dates were given about when the ministry expected to sign a contract or when construction was expected to start on the waste-to-energy facility.