The Department of Waste Management is asking for a coordinated response from the community in maximizing the potential of the incinerator.

The incinerator which once opened to the public 24 hours a day, experienced technical issues associated with the hours of operation. The new hours of operation are 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. which became effective September 1, 2014.

“We found that the majority of persons were coming after hours when  most of the staff went home, which created a strain on our human resources, that is why we had to cut down on hours for  public access,”  Waste Officer, Mr. Marquese Maduro said. 

The management change according to Mr. Maduro has allowed the Department of Waste Management to keep track of what is coming in to the facility, where it is was coming from and the type of material disposed. This information he said allows the department to make decisions where recycling is concerned.

The incinerator is mainly geared towards the processing of combustible materials.   As combustibles burn, it is reduced to ash which is an 80-90 percent reduction in the original volume size. The ash is then land filled. Non combustibles like construction waste, metals, and glass bottles do not burn. These materials are land filled as is.

“We want to get recycling methods in place so we can cut back on the amount of land filling,” Mr. Maduro explained.  He said that people are bringing in non-combustibles, and dumping these materials on the tipping floor as they do not want to go up on the hill to properly dispose of these items. This he said results in the mixing of combustibles and non-combustibles, which puts a strain on the machine.

Mr. Maduro stressed that the machine goes through the cycle but is not fully maximised as non-combustibles do not burn thereby minimizing the full potential of the incinerator.

“Eventually we want to see waste being pre-sorted so we can cut back on the amount of non-combustible items going into the machine as well as a more corporative public who adhere to the instructions of the our personnel,” The Waste Officer concluded.

The community is asked to adhere to the rules of the incinerator. Upon entering the incinerator, slow down, approach the scale with care and adhere to the instruction of the officers so that the full potential of the incinerator facility can be realized.

The Department of Waste Management is committed to ensuring that the natural beauty of the Territory is enhanced by  utilising state of the art waste management technology to ensure timely collection disposal and where possible the recycling of waste.