Something fishy at the Garbage Dump

In the past few days an unbearable stench enveloped Fabers Road Extension and the Western Highway near the junction and dumpsite. Residents of the area have been suffering and they complained to News Five today about the headaches and discomfort they have been living with. Some say they have been forced to keep their houses completely locked up, but even that hasn’t blocked out the putrid smell. We met the City Councilor responsible for sanitation, Philip Willoughby at the Waste Control compound today and he explained that the cause of the stench is a fish product that was dumped by the Belize Mills. The solution, according to Willoughby, is to bury the decayed waste and eliminate the smell.

Philip Willoughby, City Councilor

Philip Willoughby

“It’s a fish product that would have been dried fish but it got wet. Belize Mills is the entity dealing with that project, granted the material got wet. Belize Mills sought to engage with the Department of the Environment and we spoke with personnel from the Ministry of Health to see if it would have been appropriate to dump the waste here at the land fill. The material was disposed of here. The repercussion is now that we have a stench to deal with I guess due to the fact of the weather. At this time, I have been engaging with Belize Mills Personnel, we are in the process of, as I said from yesterday, procuring material to cover the area where the fish was disposed of.”

Delahnie Bain

“So how soon is that expected to bring some relief to the people in this area?”

Philip Willoughby

“We started working on it from yesterday, we will continue through today and for any inconvenience caused, I would like to apologize on behalf of the Belize City Council.”

Delahnie Bain

“And this covering it up, will that be enough to keep the stench…”

Philip Willoughby

“Yes, that will suppress the stench or the smell or the odor that is coming into the atmosphere from behind there at this time. So I am certain that relief was felt yesterday to a great extent and we will continue to work on it today to permanently dispose of this problem and eliminate it.  This was a first of a kind experience for us, as I said, because of the clearance that I was briefed on. I think the personnel thought that it would have been okay. What will happen in the future, a hole will have to be dug and that material will be disposed of in the hole or trench and then covered. And I guess we chalk this one up to learning experience and again my apologies and we’re regrettably apologizing to the city.”

Willoughby says the Council has been working with the Belize Mills to address the problem.