CANO Helping with Garbage Collection in Belize City
A non-profit organization has answered the cries of Belize City residents, who for weeks have not had their garbage collected. The problem is due to an impasse between the Belize City Council and the Belize Waste Control Limited. The group whose full name is Committed to Altruism and Nurturing Oneself, or CANO, was founded by cyclist Tariq Cano. Along with fellow cyclist and councilor, Kaya Cattouse, he took to Belize City streets to clear away as much garbage as possible in one day. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Has your trash been piling up with no sight of a garbage truck in the past few weeks? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. Going on almost a month now, the collection of garbage has been sporadic and in some cases, not at all as receptacles are overflowing with trash – not to mention the odour and associated health hazards. One resident today expressed what so many are feeling:
Earlene Young
Earlene Young, Resident, Port Loyola
“Fu di past, almost a month, three weeks now.”
Duane Moody
“And it’s just piling up; nobody noh come ‘round?”
Earlene Young
“Nobody. Over two weeks now and the garbage still deh dah di gate; I got about four drums dah di gate. Well, Tuesday morning the garbage truck come through and ih pick up one garbage and I open the gate and ask dehn fi come fi my one. Ih say Miss, yo have to call the office because yo have to pay; pay fu pick up the garbage. That dah weh ih tell me. And he di tell me the person weh ih di pick up the one garbage fah call di office. I tell ahn bwai if anybody mi fuh call the office, I mi wah call di office so I sure nobody noh call the office. And dehn drive off like dehn crazy, man come on. We are taxpayers.”
Like Earlene Young, many have been taking to social media to complain about mounting trash. While the authorities have not responded, some cries have been heard by a non-profit organization, CANO, who chartered a truck and have been going around the city today collecting as much garbage as it can and taking it to the transfer station.
Tariq Cano
Tariq Cano, Founder, Committed to Altruism and Nurturing Oneself
“We have been doing civic pride cleanups in Dangriga, Corozal and Orange Walk and so we decided now that we will help out in Belize City with the garbage situation. I find it amazing that people are so happy for us to be picking up their garbage. I know that the City Council will figure out a way to get this under control shortly, but in the meantime we will do our part and see how best we can help.”
So the organization partnered up with Councillor Kaya Cattouse. While she is not responsible for the garbage portfolio, Cano and Cattouse are both cyclists who have competed in national, regional and international races. Councillor Cattouse says she didn’t hesitate to assist and got behind the wheels of the truck today.
Kaya Cattouse
Kaya Cattouse, Councillor, Belize City Council
“CANO has been doing things like this for a while, it is not just today, and I am happy to have him come to Belize City and partner with him to do something like this. A couple months ago, I campaigned to the people on the platform of becoming a champion of the people and I consider something like this – driving a garbage truck and physically pickup up their garbage to be something that would be loved by the people and to say “Hey, this dah weh wi put Kaya deh fah.””
Tariq Cano
“We will see if we could come in the weeks to come depending on how the situation arises. We’ll see if we could do once a week or maybe every two weeks or something like that. We will try our best to see how we can help out.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
