Head of the Environmental Health Division Mr Carnel Smith said the capacity for absorbing waste in the VI is “shrinking day by day” since there was not much space to get rid of all the garbage we produce. Photo: VINO

The Environmental Chief Officer made the comments during a press conference held at the BVI Tourist Board yesterday November 27, 2012 to launch a new "BVI you're beautiful Keep It Clean Campaign".

“We have a problem with rodents and this is part and parcel of the problem,” Mr Smith said while he also stressed that the capacity for absorbing waste in the VI is “shrinking day by day” since there was not much space to get rid of all the garbage we produce. He expressed that this was a result of 99.9% of what we use were imported products.

“We have all the carriers that come in, they deliver the stuff, we use the stuff [and] it becomes trash, but they leave empty,” he said while adding that as a result, residents of the VI “need to embark on a very stringent recycling programme.”

He indicated that there has already been collaboration with the Solid Waste Department on the issue of rodents wherein they have already begun to speak about how they would take an initiative about how they would deal with the rodent issue. Mr Smith described the process as a “work in progress”.

The Department previously issued its 2010 report which had been tabled in the House of Assembly in September 2012 that alluded to the growing rodent problem in the Territory.

The report had stated “scarce resources do not afford a well developed and structured programme and would require additional human resources along with financial support” in tackling the rodent infestation it had described.

It was further revealed that existing legislation did not create much incentive to pursue prosecution due to the very low fines prescribed in addition to the volume of time and energy consumed in getting cases to court.

The Environmental Department head also alluded to the outbreak of dengue in the Virgin Islands (VI) and said “the way that people treat trash, the way they discard of trash, throwing it over any precipice and in the bushes any old cans… or anything that would harbour water [and] would also breed mosquitoes which makes it difficult to control because we don’t have access to all those areas.”

Mr Smith indicated that as a result of this, the fight with dengue could be very long and stressed the importance of a clean up operation.

In keeping with this theme, he indicated that there was a planned clean up exercise that is being jointly coordinated with the Carrot Bay Community Council. This is scheduled to be executed on January 7 and 8, 2013.

The clean up exercise, he remarked, needed to be done not only for the sake of tourism but also for everyone since it reflects the people in the VI. “All [of the persons that] reside in the VI should have something to say about the sanitary condition,” Smith said.