The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday announced that it exempted the Guyana Waste Solution’s application to collect and transport non-hazardous solid waste from an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as it deemed that the company will employ sound environmental practices.
The Guyana Solid Waste Solution’s operation of collection and transportation is said to be a service-oriented project and will be provided to the communities close to the Esplanade Disposal Facility in New Amsterdam.
According to an EPA notice in yesterday’s Guyana Chronicle, the potential impacts of the project on physical, biological, and socioeconomic environment will not be significant, given that the waste will be transported in sealed, self-contained, and self-dumping trusts.
The notice also pointed out that the application and project summary submitted outlined adequate mitigation measures for air, noise, surface water and soil pollution from the project. Resultantly, the enforcement agency determined that the project would not significantly affect the environment, and was therefore exempted from the requirement to conduct an EIA.
The EPA added that the availability of waste disposal services will reduce littering and indiscriminate dumping of solid waste by residents and commercial entities. It was noted that the task of selecting the routes was a complex problem, especially for the service areas which are densely populated zones.
“The optimal routes will result in the most efficient use of the 18 employees and 7 trucks, and for the selection of such routes, the company will apply computer analysis that accounts for all the many design variables within the service area,” the project summary said.
The variables include frequency of collection, haulage distance, type of service, and climate and garbage collection will occur at least twice per month.
Pursuant to section 11(2) of the Environmental Protection Act Cap 20:05 the agency has screened the application for the grant of an environment permit for the proposed project. However, the EPA made it pellucid, that though it has decided to waive the requirement of an EIA for the project, this by no indication, means that the project is consented.
