Waste and drainage

What Bins?

The most well know and common factor of waste in the city, especially Port-of-Spain comes in the form of garbage in the drains. The pictures below reflects this clearly. However, we are forced to ask why? We've previously mentioned bins for pedestrians being placed along roads on the sidewalks so why is there still so much pollution?

We have attributed this problem to two factors. Firstly, if the bins are present then why does the litter continue? This is because of the citizens' general behaviour and outlook on the environment. Many people are not environmentally conscious. There is also the fact that an already dirty city would encourage more pollution whereas a clean city would motivate people to keep it clean. Seeing organic waste material and other forms of trash along the streets and sidewalks encourage pedestrians to continue the cycle of pollution and improper waste disposal methods.

Secondly, we observed that many of the bins were filled to capacity. it shows that waste management by garbage trucks are not practiced in the part of the city. In a previous post, we highlighted the fact that garbage collectors ensure that Independence Square is kept litter free yet here, garbage cans overflow for days before they are cleaned. This shows this disparities in development and conservation of the eastern side of Port-of-Spain.

Liquid Pollution and Waste Disposal

When walking through George Street, east Port-of-Spain, we were greeted with an incredible stench. This was due to run-off from a poultry depot that flowed in the drains. Feathers and pieces of meat could be visible in the drain as well. On other streets, however, there was no presence of liquid waste disposal. When walking along Independence Square, there was a milky, pink substance in the drain as seen in the photo below. A few vendors were questioned on its origin, however, none seemed to know of its source. There were food stalls present in that area so our best guess was that may have been from a food product.

Upon researching, it was found that there are no specific legislation put in place for liquid waste disposal throughout the streets of Port-of-Spain. The Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) tested the soils of Port-of-Spain and it was discovered that, "according to some sources (anon), high nitrate leverls were detected at various times in Port-of-Spain and Valsayn. These high levels have been linked to leaching from nearby cemeteries." (Wesleyf1, p9), There were no testing carried out on the drain water in the city which led to our belief that liquid waste disposal in the business hub of east Port-of-Spain is not seen as a threat or acknowledged as a major issue. The link below is the report of the study conducted by Wesleyf1.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18541816/Water-Pollution-in-the-Republic-of-Trinidad-and-Tobago#scribd

That fact alone shows that the government and by extension, citizens are probably unaware or in some cases, don't care about the liquid waste disposal methods in Port-of-Spain. The city of Vernon has come up with with a Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP) to reduce the amount of liquid waste present in their city by addressing a number of key issues such as sewage run-off and other wastewaters and implementing water conservation programs. More information can be read on the website below. This plan can be examined and reconfigured to address the needs of Trinidad's capital, thus reducing and hopefully eliminating liquid waste disposal in Port-of-Spain.

http://www.vernon.ca/services/operations/liquid_waste.html

Construction waste

A fundamental part of any urban city is development, especially infrastructural development. This can be through renovations, gentrification, the construction of new high rise building and urban sprawl.The development or construction comes from the need of the city to constantly reinvent it's self as the past meets the present and the present changes to the future.


For this post we set out to find any evidence of  waste being produced fro construction in an attempt to determine the source and what was the urban activity and/or processes occurring.

The Evidence

Show us the light...

While walking through the streets of Port-of-Spain we stumbled across these four bulbs lying in the drain. Renovations were being carried out on a small store in the building near the bulbs. No picture could be taken of the store as the doors were closed.

Do business men follow the Code?

All buildings that are to be renovated, should be approved by Town and Country Planning (TCPD). It is imperative that all buildings especially in urban areas should be up to code. Many businessmen, however, neglect this process. They build according to their own needs and desires which often causes disorganisation in the city and leaves no room for development by the state, hence the lack of dumpsters on the streets. Buildings are tightly packed and have no clear pattern, each with their own unique design and structure. Such happenings act as counter-measures to development and encourages improper waste disposal techniques. 

Construction was also observed being carried out on the Cathedral and the Red House. These types of construction have been approved as state projects and have met the necessary requirements of the city code. Galvanise fencing was put up as well as scaffolding to add safety measures. No dumpsters were found near the sites, however they were devoid of any debris. This organised construction rids the city of construction waste and helps to promote a cleaner environment. TCPD and other agencies should pay more attention to development and enforce laws that allow for lawful construction without violating safety, health and environmental regualtions.  

Reflection

Our main theme spoke about waste in relation to the urban space. In viewing our colleagues blogs, links given below, we saw that some of there post touched on on our main theme. 

The blog conducted my Jameel Phillip and Brett Lucas touched on the positives of the management systems in place for the removal of waste from the city of Port-of-Spain and although we agreed with their post we did note some faults in the system. The other two blogs viewed the negative side of waste in the city and the causes of it. A post in Jameelia Rojas and Kerchelle Hinkson spoke of the sources, location and impacts of discarded waste in the city's streets which were identical to those examined in our blog. They then proposed that this was the fault of the city management in which we agree with. The last blog had a post entiled " Homelessness contributing to Environmental issues" that shown some of the street dwellers as we mention surrounded by what we would consider as rubbish.

Links to colleagues’ blogs: 

http://pollutett.blogspot.com/ by Jameel Phillip and Brett Lucas


http://urban-infrastructure.blogspot.com/ by Jameelia Rojas and Kerchelle Hinkson


http://chaguanas-pos-homlesspeople.blogspot.com/ by Daniella Ramdeo, Rosa Ramkisson, Saffiyah Mohammed