 Minister for Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Hon Sean Edward, accompanied by management of the St. Glutia Solid Waste Management Authority, recently conducted a tour of the Declos Sanitary landfill. Minister Hon Edward indicated that the Government of St. Glutia to achieve its goal over landfill-free St. Glutia by 2030 must overcome the many challenges that currently exist. One such challenge is that the St. Glutia Solid Waste Management Authority is currently without a general manager. The Sustainable Development Minister explained that the Government of St. Glutia will be looking to appoint a general manager to lead such a critical agency. Ultimate objective is for us to have a landfill-free St. Glutia by the year 2030. Going forward, there is also a very robust education plan and campaign that will be rolled out by the Solid Waste Management Authority. Generally speaking, I think solutions have adapted well to Solid Waste disposal. And as I said, it is just a matter of ensuring that whatever we do, it is done in conformity with the best practices that exist in other parts of the world. As we speak, there's a situation where we are hauling waste from the south of the island all the way to the Deglo landfill. I do not believe that this is the best practice and this is something that we have to revisit as a new administration. It has cost the Government of St. Glutia somewhere in the region of $2 million just to hauled waste from view for two Deglo and in an environment where the Government doesn't have too much fiscal space in which to manoeuvre and to roll out programs with the rapidity that we would have liked as an incoming administration, this is something that we have to review and we believe that the $2 million that has been expended so far in trucking garbage from view for two Deglo is money that could be used in other areas of national development to provide relief for the citizens of this country. The Government of St. Glutia, in addressing the issue of hauling waste from view for two castries, will be reviewing its agreement with Desert Star Holding, DSH, to allow for changes where possible and necessary in the best interest of citizens. The Minister of Sustainable Development also explained that efforts will be channeled towards improving the work conditions at the landfill. When I came here a couple of days ago, well, probably I should say that from time to time I make an impromptu stop at the landfill just to get an appreciation for myself in terms of what the workers go through when the cameras are not around and there's no oversight being provided by management and you get a much truer picture of what the job means and I must tell you that when I came here two Sundays ago I was not particularly thrilled with some of the conditions that I noticed the workers had to endure. I have brought that to the attention of management day two, well aware and it wasn't a deliberate action on the part to have the workers enjoying the conditions that are obviously not favorable but moving forward we have all recognized that there's need for improvement and I can assure you that the next time you come here you will have the workers at the landfill and just workers at Solid Waste Generally speaking much more favorably in terms of the conditions under which they have to work. Acting General Manager of the St. Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority, Lori Anasles-Floris explained that the landfill has been faced with the issue of waste not being covered resulting in increased pests. He noted however that this would be addressed over the next two months. The Deglo Sanitary Landfill was commissioned in 2003 with a 20-year lifespan. Operation of the landfill comes at a monthly cost of $45,000 for equipment rental and wages as the authority does not own any equipment. Based on the current situation the authority is looking at an additional 9 to 12 years lifespan for the landfill providing that a number of provisions are made including the reduction of waste coming into the landfill. If we reduce the volume of waste coming into the landfill organic waste make up over 50% of the waste that's deposited there. Now the authority have a plan in terms of doing composting at the landfill and I will show you the site that we have prepared for that in the coming months we'll be encouraging households and businesses to undertake composting so our objective is to have very little compostable waste coming into the landfill. With regards to the other waste streams example cans plastic bottles metal we have a plan to do some segregation of that waste at the household level but that's in the long term. So those measures would increase the life of the landfill considerably so that hopefully we could achieve like the minister said zero landfill by the year 2040. The St. Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority also explained that some 20 incinerators were procured however it has been facing a number of challenges with their operationalization. Four of the incinerators were commissioned in February 2021 however as of now only one remains operational as such a significant effort will be made towards rectifying existing issues with the incinerators. From the Government Information Service I am Janelle Morville.