General Manager of the Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation (DSWMC), Florian Mitchel, has announced that the procurement of two trucks as promised during the 2025-2026 National Budget last month will better fulfil the corporation’s mandate to ensure the timely collection of garbage across the island.
Finance Minister Dr. Irving McIntyre, in his presentation of the National Budget, said a total of six trucks will be procured this year, with the first two arriving on August 1, 2025, and the remaining four are currently en route and expected to arrive by early October 2025.
“We have two trucks which were promised that [are] on island. Well, one of the two is already deployed, and we are seeing some strides, and we are hoping that by next week we’ll see an overall improvement on the discharge of waste,” he said while speaking to state-owned Radio DBS. “All the affected communities will see our collection equipment, and that would alleviate some of the ongoing issues that we are seeing.”
Mitchel appealed to the general public that the management of waste is an essential responsibility that should be done at the household level.
“Separate your organic, separate your recyclable, and only place your waste out on the day and time specified. Use a receptacle as much as possible,” he encouraged.
He revealed that the second truck will be deployed on Thursday.
“The truck will see one of the other trucks in the East on Thursday,” he revealed. “A brand new truck takes some time. You have to manufacture it to spec. So we thought it would be prudent to get two used trucks to help bridge the gap and it would help improve on the collection of waste until we have the brand new ones that were promised.”
Mitchel continued, “ We have two compactor trucks and about three or four Tipper trucks that we currently use. And in October, as was promised, we’ll have another four compactor trucks, brand new to add to the fleet, and also the Prime Minister did mention…a decentralizing system.”
