PALMETTO POINT, ELEUTHERA — The miles of pristine, unspoiled, forested hills of Eleuthera almost obscure a rising issue that has begun to spill over onto its roads on parts of the island — public dumps that appear to have reached their capacity.
It’s an issue residents are well aware of, but efforts to maintain these sites have been challenged by the return of single-use items amid the coronavirus pandemic and the needs of a growing population.
Alvin Deal of Out Island Construction, a local firm on the island, said: “They need to dig holes.
“How they do it in Exuma [is] they have different sections where they put cardboard [in] one section, cars one section, but they have holes where they dump it in.
“The land field in Exuma, that’s how they’re dumping in Exuma.
“That’s the same thing they should do here.
“Everybody is dump here, from Savannah Sound straight down to Governor’s Harbor.
“It’s just on the surface and that’s it.
“This been here years now and it never changed.
“I don’t know. I guess mostly by — before this week out, they might have a tractor push it up.”
He added: “This needs to fix. This needs to be done better than this. This needs to fix because you come here tomorrow and the garbage is going to be way out here.”
Just minutes after Deal took off, another resident, who identified himself as Mr Cooper, backed his truck toward the entrance of the dump, but could not reverse beyond a sign erected there.
He attempted to break down and push back what appeared to be an old cabinet, but only managed to roll it over a few feet.
When asked for a comment, he simply said: “You can see what needs to happen here.”
Bekera Taylor, a business owner and president of the Eleuthera Sustainability Council Cooperative Society, said the dump is a pressing issue that the council is seeking to make inroads on.
“Our dumps are not up to par how they should be and I tell people how we look and smell is important and we should take it as such and not be lightly about it,” Taylor said.
“Right now, we came to realize one of our dumpsites that’s really creating havoc — I call it havoc because you don’t only see what it’s doing, you smell and feel the impact.
“The Palmetto Point dumpsite. When you pass there, you can see all the garbage to the front and when it’s windy, the garbage blows out from the dumpsite [to] across the other side of the street.
“So, in passing, it would appear as if people are just loosely throwing garbage down when that’s not the case.
“It’s because people are deliberately dumping the garbage in the front section of the dump as opposed to dumping it beyond the front area.
“This is an issue that needs to be addressed.”
Taylor said the council has engaged with the individuals managing the site to see how it can be improved and has consulted with stakeholders on New Providence on better practices.
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