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Gov’t looking to re-establish Litter Warden Programme

- Premier Fahie says legislation coming for environmental offenders
Back in December 2018, this unsightly garbage dump was seen in the Purcell Estate community. Photo: VINO/File
Following his Earth Day, April 22, 2019, announcement to lead the charge for a comprehensive clean-up of the Virgin Islands (VI), Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) says legislation is on the way to protect the environment. Photo: Facebook/File
Following his Earth Day, April 22, 2019, announcement to lead the charge for a comprehensive clean-up of the Virgin Islands (VI), Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) says legislation is on the way to protect the environment. Photo: Facebook/File
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Following his Earth Day, April 22, 2019, announcement to lead the charge for a comprehensive clean-up of the Virgin Islands (VI), Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) says legislation is on the way to protect the environment with plans for the re-establishment of the Litter Warden Programme.

The Premier via a video release from the Government Information Service (GIS) also noted that his Virgin Islands Party (VIP) government will be taking measure to ban environmentally harmful items as part of the local clean-up drive.

Policies & Legislation

“In addition to the territory-wide clean-up, your government will also be doing the following… Implementing policies and legislation for the banning of items harmful to the environment; increase enforcement measures to protect our environment,” Premier Fahie said while noting that an education and awareness campaign will be launched to combat the growing waste management problems in the territory.

Further, he said that the existing penalties for littering will be enforced with plans for green spaces in all nine districts with assistance for the purchase of clean-up equipment for the community. 

The Premier noted that approved inmates will help with clean-up efforts as well as a local tree planting and mangrove replanting initiative on the way amongst other things.

Committed

“As the Premier of these Virgin Islands, I acknowledge the policy changes that are needed, in order to address the environmental challenges we face. And I’m committed to doing my part, however, proper waste management is something each person can personally address,” Premier Fahie said.

“Every piece of trash we pick up helps to clean up our communities. The impacts of our mishandled waste are monumental from poisoning our water sources to choking wildlife, to increasing carbon emissions,” he said in noting that the government is collaborating with various organisations and groups to make the campaign more successful.

Premier Fahie implored that the overall goal is to, “be proactive and innovative in the way we address these issues, and to make a tangible impact on eliminating waste from our environments.” 

11 Responses to “Gov’t looking to re-establish Litter Warden Programme ”

  • ABC (23/04/2019, 12:29) Like (7) Dislike (2) Reply
    the VIP working hard mehson
  • Ban (23/04/2019, 14:13) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
    Ban single use water bottles, they are everywhere. Buy glass crusher, dump the sand at Brandywine, win-win
  • NezRez (23/04/2019, 16:08) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    If I had a glass crusher, I would make a beautiful mosaic table. I’ll look into purchasing one. Keep the BVI beautiful.
  • biker (23/04/2019, 19:11) Like (8) Dislike (0) Reply
    Remember the British Virgin Islands' Environmental Protection and Tourism Improvement Fund Act of 2017 that the NDP passed in April 2017. The $10 environmental fee for visitors arriving to the BVI commenced on 1 Sept. 2017. Hopefully after 20 months of collecting this $10/visitor fee there will be plenty of money to pay the litter wardens now!
  • wize up (23/04/2019, 20:58) Like (1) Dislike (2) Reply
    Lots of things that were in place were neglected under the former administration: were there not litter warden in place: we once had farmers week: we once had fire & rescue in the east and west community.....lets all move forward
  • me again (24/04/2019, 01:31) Like (12) Dislike (0) Reply
    Litter wardens ? Let government make littering/ illegal dumping FEES as REAL as charges for dark tint and offer cash rewards for who turns in culprits . I bet you if this is put in place , where I see some one dumping a pickup load next to a green bin and I can take a picture , send it to the POLICE/WARDENS and they give a citation : take them to court and make them PAY and REMOVE the garbage I bet you “ this shit will stop “ We got to make a stand against littering . Creating 1000 jobs is only gimmicks ; MAKE LITTERING FEES. REAL
  • rubbish (24/04/2019, 07:59) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    Fining people is not going to motivate the necessary behavioral changes. We need to instead find ways to facilitate waste disposal. We also need to seriously think about how to manage our wastes instead of pretending like it's just going to go away. Can't just keep burning it
  • Pitch In (24/04/2019, 08:25) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    Common decency dictates that we pitch in and do whatever we can to keep around our surroundings clean and refrain from littering. It is that simple.

    Singapore did it. So did Canada. Why can’t we?
  • NezRez (24/04/2019, 14:43) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    Why don’t we have island wide recycling? I’m not talking about one or two private establishments, but every neighborhood or a large main recycling center, this would eliminate most of the waste


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