GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana government is considering jail sentences for persons who litter amid a growing garbage disposal problem in several parts of the country.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, speaking on his weekly “Issues in the News” program on Tuesday night, told viewers that the authorities are moving to update and operationalize both the Environmental Protection Act and the Summary Jurisdiction Offenses Act.
Nandlall said the 2013 Environmental Protection Act contains several regulations that were never operationalized, and that these regulations set out a detailed regime for littering, establish offenses related to littering, and establish a comprehensive enforcement framework.
He said that the government will now bring into force some of those provisions that already provide a range of measures.
“So, it is with littering in public places, littering in relation to motor vehicles, and it speaks to a system of fines, it deals with littering from a motor vehicle in motion, it speaks about owners of public transportation to provide receptacles for litter, and it creates a series of offenses for persons littering on public and private premises.
“Significantly, it imposes upon the local authorities a series of responsibilities and power to enforce laws and regulations in relation to littering,” Nandlall told viewers of the program.
He said the framework will be comprehensively reviewed, updated, and implemented.
“We will also review the summary Jurisdiction Offences Act and amend that legislation to expand the scope in relation to littering and to put new offences in place to increase the penalties and importantly to add imprisoned for repeated offenders as well as ad community service which will include cleaning garbage,” Nandlall noted.
Under the Environmental Protection Act, Nandlall noted that regulations on noise pollution were never enforced.
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