HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Sen. Sabina Perez got some feedback from village mayors regarding two bills designed to address waste removal.
On Wednesday, the Mayors’ Council of Guam hosted Perez as a guest speaker at their monthly meeting. Perez discussed two bills she introduced earlier this year.
The first was Bill 165-37, which, if passed, would require all residential homeowners to sign up for trash services with the Guam Solid Waste Authority, while the second Bill 171-27 would strengthen illegal dumping violations.
Following Perez’s brief presentation, she welcomed questions and comments from mayors, which began with Piti Mayor and Mayors’ Council President Jesse Alig asking whether Bill 165 in particular would consider green waste removal.
“There’s a lot of it, and I think every household will have it. We have a bin for recycling and a bin for trash, but we don’t have a green waste bin,” said Alig who explained the mayors can assist residents in green waste disposal. However, residents need to bring it in on their own, he said.
Alig added if residents are unable to, they resort to burning the green waste.
Perez in response said it was a “great suggestion” considering compostable green waste bins can be found in most states.
Also on Bill 165, Mayors’ Council Executive Director Angel Sablan questioned whether fees associated with the measure could consider how many people live in a residence compared to the square footage of the residence.
“Buildings don’t generate trash, it’s people that generate trash, and we can go to a residence today with four people in it and next week there’ll be 15 people living in the same household,” Sablan said, suggesting a “more reasonable way” to assess fees.
Talking trash
While some on the council gave suggestions on the bills, some continued to express frustration on an issue that has been ongoing for years. The mayors want more progress on illegal dumping.
Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor Rudy Paco, for example, said, “We’re never going to (win) with the battle of illegal dumping vehicles if we don’t enforce them and put a steep fine to these people.”
Paco continued to say he has been citing illegal dumpers $1,000 – which worked for him.
“You should jack up the price because we’re just going to continue to talk about trash if we don’t start enforcing the law,” Paco added before Perez responded in agreement and said Bill 171 should address enforcement, considering anyone in law enforcement will be able to give citations.
While Perez, also discussed her holistic approach to the issue with goals of educating the public on how to treat the island better, Chalan Pago-Ordot Mayor Jessy Gogue expressed his frustration.
“We have roundtable discussions, but day in, day out, we’re still frustrated. After however many years we’ve been in office, change is not present or change has been extremely slow,” Gogue said.
Sen. Sabina Perez speaks to the Mayor’s Council of Guam about Bill 165-37 which would require all residential homeowners to sign up for trash services on Wednesday in Hagåtña.
