Environment

Flood garbage lingers in Sangre Grande

An­gry San­gre Grande res­i­dents are call­ing on the rel­e­vant au­thor­i­ties to en­sure that the huge mounds of garbage which were re­moved from their homes fol­low­ing last month’s flood­ing are now re­moved im­me­di­ate­ly from the road­sides.

They say they now fear an out­break of dis­ease be­cause the garbage is now draw­ing ver­min and smelling up their com­mu­ni­ties.

The garbage, which in­cludes dam­aged ap­pli­ances, soaked mat­tress­es and fur­ni­ture, has been piled up at the front of their homes for the last three weeks and is yet to be re­moved.

3.8 shake today is earthquake number 6 in one week

Trinidad and Tobago has been shaken again, in the sixth earthquake in a week.

The Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies said it occurred around 9:57 am today and measured 3.8.

It occurred 71 km SE of Carúpano,  Venezuela, 97 km NE of Maturín, Venezuela and 126 km WSW of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

This follows earthquakes felt last Saturday, Sunday, two on Tuesday and one on Thursday.

 

Flood garbage piles up in Kelly Village

Res­i­dents of Kel­ly Gar­dens in St He­le­na are plead­ing with the au­thor­i­ties to re­move the garbage that has ac­cu­mu­lat­ed due to their flood clean-up.

Since flood­wa­ters re­ced­ed ear­li­er this week, the res­i­dents have been busy at work try­ing to re­gain some sem­blance of life as they knew it be­fore flood wa­ters in­vad­ed their homes last week­end.

McDonald's ditching plastic straws from next month

As part of McDonald’s initiative to use its scale to contribute to positive changes in the communities where it operates, Arcos Dorados - McDonald’s franchisee in Latin America and the Caribbean- will cease to offer plastic straws in its 2,100 restaurants across the region, from October 31st, 2018.

Straws will be provided only for those customers who expressly request them.

The company says that for now, straws will still be available at the drive-thru.

Wrong fine given to Scarlet Ibis poachers

En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty (EMA) chair­man Nadra Nathai-Gyan yes­ter­day ad­mit­ted it was re­gret­table that the new $100,000 fine for poach­ing of a Scar­let Ibis, an En­vi­ron­men­tal­ly Sen­si­tive Species (ESS), took too long to be gazetted.

Dumped oil pollutes Caparo stream

In­dis­crim­i­nate dump­ing of waste mo­tor oil in a trib­u­tary to the Ca­paro riv­er over the last two months is not on­ly threat­en­ing the ecosys­tem but is al­so af­fect­ing a Tilapia farmer's liveli­hood.

Zoo road being repaved with discarded plastic bottles

The Emperor Valley Zoo's recycling project continues as a roadway is being constructed using recycled plastics.

The roadway incorporates pavers made from approximately 1.5 million single-use plastic bottles previously used for water and soft drinks.

The discarded plastics were chipped and incorporated into each paver, storing it there forever.

In this way, fewer plastics enter landfills and waterways such as rivers and oceans.

The project is a collaboration with Flying Tree Environmental Management.

- by Sharlene Rampersad

More than half-a-tonne of garbage removed from Invaders Bay

Over half-a-ton of garbage was removed from the Invaders Bay, Port-of-Spain, coastline, on Saturday as employees, friends and volunteers of bmobile demonstrated their support for marine conservation through the 2018 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC).

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