Placencia Faces Serious Garbage Woes, Seeks Solutions

Placencia is known for its stunning beaches and vibrant tourism scene. But right now, this jewel of the south is facing a serious garbage problem. The village’s dumpsite is practically unreachable. The road leading there is in such bad shape that getting waste out has become a nightmare. And with government help slow to arrive, the village council says it’s out of options and forced to take drastic steps. So, what’s really going on? How did infrastructure issues and tight budgets push Placencia to the edge? And what does this mean for the people who live here, as well as the visitors who flock to its shores? News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The Placencia Village Council’s recent decision to leave garbage at the entrance of its dumpsite underscores a deepening waste management crisis fueled by failing infrastructure and insufficient government support. Vice Chair Brice Dial shared more with News Five.

 

Brice Dial, Vice Chair, Placencia Village

“I think across the country people know that villages receive very little funding to get things done and with a village the size of Placencia, along with Seine Bight and Riversdale, the entire peninsula, it is a large population we are servicing for garbage removal. We are not getting any help. So, now we try to keep the maintenance of the vehicles and the equipment up, but when we have to go back there, like yesterday we got stuck back here and it took us hours to get out and we had to hire heavy equipment to get the truck out and that allowed us to do one run of garbage and we are in the high season. So now we are backed up with garbage and facing huge issues.”

 

According to Dial, the council turned to Facebook after repeated efforts to secure government intervention proved unsuccessful. The council prepared an estimate of nearly thirty thousand dollars for the road repairs, as requested by the Government of Belize, but even that failed to move the process forward.

 

Brice Dial

“We are basically at the point frustration and we cant access the dump because of the road condition, and we are left with no option, because what do we do? Do we leave garbage piling up at all of these households and resorts and we have unhappy tourist because they are walking in all this mess. So we are at the point where our only other option is to dump right along the roadside as you come unto the peninsula.”

 

As Dial explains, the council is not generating enough income to repair the road from its own funds. She says that in the past when the council managed the water system, they would attach the garbage fee to the water bills. Today, BWS manages the community’s water system, while garbage fee collections have fallen by fifty percent, a financial strain that Area Representative Rodwell Ferguson says he knows all too well.

 

On the Phone: Rodwell Ferguson, Area Rep., Stann Creek West

“Since that was stopped and it went to BWS, they can only try to collect the garbage as its picked up. But sometimes people are reluctant to pay. But because Placencia is a tourist community, the task is on the village council to make sure they keep their village clean, so they get out the garbage no matter what. But it comes with a cost, and they are saying there is no profit in this, but at the same time they have to maintain their village.”

Ferguson says he has reached out to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing regarding the road repairs, and the ministry has pledged to supply gravel.

 

On the Phone: Rodwell Ferguson

“I spoke to the officer in charge of the Stann Creek District and he told me he has committed to either ten or twenty loads to assist with the fixing of the site, but unfortunately the south is getting a significant amount of rain so complaints is coming form all direction and the ministry cannot cope with he amount of request that is coming. But, because Placencia is a tourist destination, I asked them to consider Placencia and see how quick it can be done.”

 

Even if the road gets fixed, the money problem won’t go away anytime soon. In fact, we’re hearing that Seine Bight Village Council is gearing up to manage its own waste operations. But for Placencia, garbage collection is still a pricey business. From paying staff to fueling trucks and keeping them running, the costs just keep piling up. Additionally, the Belize Solid Waste Management Authority built a transfer station for Placencia that is yet to become operational. So, what is the hold up?

 

On the Phone: Rodwell Ferguson

“I had a discussion with Solid Waste Management to figure out when they are going to take over the sites they have close to the banana area and solid waste committed to them that they will take over very shortly to make sure the waste get out of Placencia to the site and from off the central zone and western Highway.”

 

As of today, the council is left with no choice but to dump its garbage at the entrance of the dumpsite, near the highway. It’s not the most ideal solution, but it’s the best that can be done at this time.

 

On the Phone: Rodwell Ferguson

“It was a hard decision, but partly sometimes it seems like unless things very drastic with government that is the only time they safe the day and I hate to sound that way. It is the harsh reality of what we are facing and I don’t want the village council to come across as disrespectful, but better the garbage is concentrated in one area that having it along the peninsula where racoons and rats and dogs get into it.”

 

Until sustainable solutions are found, Placencia’s struggle to keep its streets clean will continue to test the resilience of this vibrant community and the systems meant to support it. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.