As the Mashramani celebrations are tucked away until next year, the after effects of the day’s revellery were still visible yesterday though workers from the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) were attacking the sea of garbage strewn around the city.
From Church and Camp streets all the way to the northern and southern ends of Vlissengen Road, garbage could be seen in huge piles along the streets. At least 50 workers were on the road, trying their best to remove the excessive garbage associated with the Mashramani festivities.
According to one of the cleaners, the cleanup process began around 6 am yesterday. He emphasized that the work had to be completed before the day’s end.
Before 11 am, several areas had already been cleaned, including the northern shoulder of Church Street. However, much was still left to be done.
Vlissengen Road was the most affected area with large buildups of garbage and broken bottles seen inches apart. In front of KFC, a prime partying spot for Mashramani revellers, several staff members, unable to wait on the M&CC’s cleaners had instead elected to do the job themselves.
Several school-aged children walked the streets in search of disposed glass bottles to sell. These children wore no protective gears and walked through broken beer bottles with nothing but rubber slippers to protect their feet.
Though garbage is usually a problem in Guyana year-round, more could’ve been done to alleviate the issue around Mashramani when there is obviously an increase in the level of refuse produced.
During the day’s proceedings, very few bins were seen along the floats’ route. Persons who perhaps would’ve been inclined to throw their garbage in provided bins instead chose to drop their refuse on the grass and in the trenches.
In the National Park, the culmination point for the day’s float parade, bins lined around the stands. However, persons were still seen throwing their trash under the stands rather than braving the crowds to get to the bins.
In other popular spots such as the seawall and the Botanical Gardens cleanup had been completed by lunchtime yesterday, with overflowing dumpsters waiting to be collected.
The overall cleaning was estimated to go well into last night.
