Wil Maheia says Punta Gorda Dumpsite neglected
Several initiatives have been introduced across the country to properly dispose of waste and each municipality has a designated dump site. But in Punta Gorda the proper disposal of garbage, according to activist, Wil Maheia, is being neglected by the Punta Gorda Town Council. Maheia says that the issue warrants an intervention by the Department of Environment because it poses numerous health hazards.
Via phone: Wil Maheia, Concerned Citizen
“Down here in Punta Gorda, they have not even a garbage site, just an area where they usually dump the garbage, that area is kinda filled up right now and instead of pushing it off with a bulldozer like they usually do, they decide now to kinda just dump it on the side of the road. And as you can see from the picture, it is like dumping it in people’s property, it’s dumping it on the side of the road when clearly the law states that this is illegal to dump garbage on the side of the road. As a concern citizen of Toledo, I decided to bring it to the attention of the public. We have brought it to the attention of the Town Council and it has been ignored. Also this is a road that you know, people would use to get to the river and it’s also a health hazard because there’s all kinds of nasty stuff being dumped there.”
Andrea Polanco
Wil Maheia
“Okay. And Will, I see here that it’s less than a mile from the Rio Grande River which yuh know, empties into the Port Honduras Marine Reserve as well?”
Via Phone: Wil Maheia
“Right. Yuh know, this I mean I know all the time NGO’s would cause alarm because of offshore drilling, or drilling in protected areas but to me this is even worse than that because this is affecting the health of your community, affecting the health of your marine reserve and eventually it will affect the health of the people because batteries are being dumped here, the mercury content of the batter flows into the river, the river flows into the Marine Reserve, we eat the fish from Marine Reserve, then eventually that mercury ends up in our bodies.”
Andrea Polanco
“Will, do you know how long this has been going on down there in Punta Gorda?”
Via Phone: Wil Maheia
“It’s on and off for several years now because sometimes they’ll get the bulldozer to push up the garbage where they usually dump it but sometimes they just don’t care bulldozer doesn’t come in and push it so they just dump it on the side of the road. So this has been going on for a few years now.”
Since the garbage problem has fallen on deaf ears, Maheia says he will continue to agitate for proper disposal.
