GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres has signed Executive Order 2021-21 to create the CNMI Universal Garbage Collection Task Force as proposed by the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers earlier this year.
GCEA has also suggested a regular curbside pickup schedule and the installation of trash receptacles in open spaces. The council said it envisions garbage collection zones across Rota, Tinian, and Saipan with communal garbage transfer stations.
GCEA is also pushing for the practice of the 3Rs in waste disposal — reduce, reuse, and recycle — and strict and consistent enforcement of the CNMI anti-littering law.
In his executive order, the governor said it is “the policy of this administration that greater efforts be made to modernize access of solid waste management resource to the CNMI population and to act upon recommendations offered by a public-private collaborative system in order to provide for a Universal Garbage Collection service in the Commonwealth.”
He said the Universal Garbage Collection or UGC Task Force “shall work toward the creation of a collection system that will provide for greater efficiencies in the collection of solid waste among the villages and businesses in the Commonwealth, reduce the incentives for littering, provide for community receptacles, and establish greater efficiencies among private operators in the solid waste collection services.”
The task force “shall be composed of professional individuals and government officials from public and private sectors. All departments, divisions, offices, government corporations, boards and commissions of the CNMI government appointed to the task force shall assign representatives to participate in the meetings and activities of the task force to achieve its critical mission.”
The task force will consist of the Department of Public Works, the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and the Office of Planning and Development.
Additional government agencies will be included from time to time and as deemed necessary by the task force chairman.
The governor also invited the GCEA, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Hotel Association of the NMI and the Office of the Attorney General to join the task force.
The task force will be responsible for reviewing existing plans, studies, and recommendations for the establishment of the UGC system for the CNMI, reviewing best practices in the region and the U.S. for the implementation of UGC, and providing written plans and recommendations to the governor’s office regarding the establishment of UGC system, which shall include changes necessary to CNMI laws, regulations and policies.
“Any plan shall consider the establishment of a functioning and beneficial public-private partnership in the collection of solid waste and methods for funding such system. Further, any plan shall contain the creation of community waste receptacles in the villages and on recreational sites as a component of the UGC system,” the E.O. stated.
The governor likewise granted the task force full authority to research and develop plans and recommendations; and to hold meetings and request information from public and private resources.
“All government agencies and departments shall be responsive to requests of the task force and support its efforts. Any delays or challenges experienced by the task force in the conduct of its duties shall be reported to the Office of the Governor,” the E.O. stated.
