The Riverton Waste Disposal Site is managed by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA). Since 2004, there have been nine serious fires at Riverton – every year except 2013 -- and countless smaller ones.  In March 2012, NEPA disclosed an air quality report that revealed that several communities, offices and schools were at “high risk” or “very high risk” as a result of that year’s fire. In March 2014, following a prolonged fire outbreak, NEPA granted two permits to the NSWMA to improve the management of the dumpsite. In March 2015, yet another fire erupted at Riverton. This time it engulfed the majority of the dump and blanketed Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine in toxic smoke, forcing 50 schools and 30-odd businesses to close, the postponement of the GSAT examination, and sending over 800 people to the hospital due to respiratory distress.

 Jamaica’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms states that every person has the right to “… enjoy a healthy and productive environment free from the threat of injury or damage from environmental abuse and degradation of the ecological heritage;” The recurring fires and poor environmental management at the Riverton Dump are an assault on those rights.

We, like many other members of the public, have lost confidence in the commitment of the present leadership of the NSWMA and its parent Ministry of Local Government to effectively manage the Riverton Dump.  We have also lost confidence in the regulatory bodies, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Ministry of Health to hold NSWMA to account. 

Please sign this petition and join us to call for:

 1.        Thorough investigations into the cause of this fire and full accountability for those directly responsible for the management of Riverton.

 2.        NEPA must immediately take enforcement action, including via the courts, for the breaches to its environmental permit issued to NSWMA.

3.        Immediate establishment of an implementation team/oversight committee with relevant skills, knowledge and expertise, from the public, private and civil society sectors to ensure implementation of the various recommendations for the efficient management of the dump to prevent recurrence of disastrous fires and ensure proper, sustainable solid waste management for the medium to long term.