- by Met
As RJR News continues to monitor the fire which has been raging at a tyre storage facility near the Riverton disposal site since Sunday, business operators in sections of the Corporate Area are complaining that the smoke emanating from the site is hampering commercial activities.
Wayne Kirkpatrick, General Manager of gas company IGL, told RJR News that the company is being forced to close its plants earlier than usual due to the effects of the smoke.
He said several staff members were also sent home.
“Our asthmatics, we had to send them home early and it seems as if today it’s not getting any better, so we have to be moving people around, we have had to close areas in the building because of smoke getting in the areas and it’s not a good scene,” he lamented.
“There (are) a lot of businesses along this strip and there are people that live (here) and ultimately, this can’t continue; something has to be done,” Mr. Kirkpatrick asserted.
Rohan White, Business Development Manager at Tyre Warehouse, raised similar concerns, arguing that the smoke is crippling business at his company.
He said workers have been forced to wear dust masks and goggles to reduce the effects of the thick smoke and fumes.
“For customers it’s even worse because we are a customer based company, (so) that makes it so bad for business. We can’t expose them to the smoke on the outside, we have to let them stay on the inside, so there is a whole heep of disadvantage in it,” he explained.
The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has said tyres at the Riverton dump will be moved to a new location within weeks.
Audley Gordon, Executive Director of the Authority, who made the disclosure in an interview with RJR News, said talks are ongoing with a private sector entity to store the tyres.
He said the NSWMA is seeking to have them stored in a way which will appease the country’s environmentalists.