Topic: Department of Environmental Health
Salmonella scare prompts Pillsbury flour recall
Cayman’s Department of Environmental Health is advising the public that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a recall of some Pillsbury flour products due to the likelihood of salmonella contamination.
Brac residents urged to dispose of metal waste
Cayman Brac residents are being urged by the Department of Environmental Health to transport derelict vehicles and other metal waste to the Cayman Brac Landfill by Feb. 26.
Bigger recycling depot opens in North Side
North Siders are now able to drop off glass and plastic for recycling at an expanded depot in the district.
Small fire erupts at George Town landfill
The Cayman Islands Fire Service arrived on the scene and contained the blaze that started between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. on the southeast side of the landfill, according to the Department of Environmental Health.
DEH gets new assistant director
The Department of Environmental Health has appointed Michael Haworth as its new assistant director in charge of solid waste. Mr. Haworth takes over from Mark Bothwell, who was seconded from the Recreation Parks and Cemeteries Unit in July last year.
Sick leave again
Today's editorial cartoon.
EDITORIAL – Trash collection: A dirty job that must be done
No offense to readers who toil away in C-suites or corner offices, but there are many types of jobs where occasional, extended or even habitual absenteeism might never be noticed. Garbage collection is not among those professions.
Excessive sick leave contributes to garbage collection delays
Rampant absenteeism among roadside garbage crews appears to have contributed to repeated failures to collect trash on time over the past 14 months.
Government employee arrested for ganja at airport
Customs officers arrested a 35-year-old male returning to Cayman on Sunday for attempting to smuggle marijuana into the country. The unidentified man is an employee of the Department of Environmental Health, officials said.
EDITORIAL – What we’re watching out for in 2019
As a rule, Compass editors are cautious about indulging in the temptation of attempted prognostication. However, there are some issues and themes, classified as “in progress” or “recurring,” that we expect to find ourselves writing about in the coming year.
Christmas tree recycling program extended
The Department of Environmental Health is collecting Christmas trees for recycling, through Thursday Jan. 17. Only live and natural trees without decorations are accepted.
‘Come early and bring a shovel’
You know the festive season is officially over when you see the forlorn piles of Christmas trees filling dumpsters around the island.
Three trash trucks out of service
Garbage collectors will be working double shifts through Saturday to catch up on roadside pickups. Three trucks are currently out of service, contributing to more delays in collections, particularly in the eastern districts.
Bins overflow amid waste collection delays
Garbage piled up by the roadside in the eastern districts over the festive period with equipment failure blamed for more delays in residential collections.
Christmas tree recycling
The Department of Environmental Health is urging Grand Cayman residents who purchased natural Christmas trees to participate in its annual Christmas tree recycling program.
Getting to grips with garbage problems
Garbage collections have been on time and on schedule for the past month after the Department of Environmental Health took action to deal with problems that have plagued it for more than a year.
Recycling bins added for expected holiday increase
Anticipating higher holiday volume, the Department of Environmental Health has added a combined total of three new recycling containers to two of its supermarket recycling depots.
16 shih tzu dogs removed from home
The Department of Agriculture removed 16 shih tzu dogs, aged between one and three years old, from a home in George Town.
DEH amends Brac bulk waste schedule
Bulk waste collections in areas of Cayman Brac will begin later than originally scheduled, according to the Department of Environmental Health.
Christmas beef inspection reminder
The Department of Environmental Health is reminding slaughtermen, butchers and livestock farmers of the arrangements regarding the inspection of locally slaughtered animals in the Cayman Islands during the upcoming Christmas Season.
Mail call: Prisoners to help collect garbage
Inmates from Her Majesty’s prison will pitch in to help solid waste crews keep up with garbage collection. Officials say the temporary arrangement will help prevent a repeat of last year’s holiday trash backup while the Department of Environmental Health works on a permanent fix to staff shortages and absenteeism.
E. coli outbreak linked to romaine
The Department of Environmental Health has issued an advisory urging members of the public, restaurant operators, wholesalers and retailers not to purchase, eat, serve or sell romaine lettuce, because of potential E. coli contamination.
Prisoners to help collect garbage
Serving prisoners will be used as temporary garbage collectors in a new scheme to deal with continued delays in roadside trash collections.
EDITORIAL – When government despoils Cayman’s precious wetlands
To environmentalists and conservationists alike, there is no mission more sacred than protecting tropical wetlands, the incubator and habitat of many forms of life...
Household junk, en route to landfill, piles up on streets
Used mattresses, appliances, electronics, old furniture, car tires and metal items are beginning to pile up along Cayman roadsides.
Caymanman – Broken frown
Today's editorial cartoon.
DEH director’s settlement remains under wraps
Government has declined to reveal the details of any settlement with former director of Department of Environmental Health Roydell Carter after an open records request from the Cayman Compass.
Annual bulk waste collections begin Nov. 3
The Department of Environmental Health will begin this year’s annual bulk waste collections early next month.
DEH: Bodden Town fire extinguished after several weeks
A quarry fire in Bodden Town that had been smoldering in the Pease Bay area for more than three weeks was extinguished Thursday, according to the Department of Environmental Health.
Canal-side residents face boat dilemma
A neighborhood in Newlands has become ground zero for a slew of concerns and disputes over use of Grand Cayman’s residential canals.
DEH apologizes for delayed garbage collection
The Department of Environmental Health issued an apology Friday to residents of Grand Cayman who have experienced delays in garbage collection services over the past week.
EDITORIAL – George Town landfill: Time to clear the air
Over the past two years, nearly 2 million pounds of trash have been intentionally incinerated at the George Town and Cayman Brac landfills, without the use of “scrubbers” – devices that remove toxins from the incinerators’ exhaust.
EDITORIAL – Auditors unearth $2 million of problems at DEH
The recently released auditors’ report confirms three sources of stench within the Department of Environmental Health: the garbage accumulating on curbsides and in dumpsters; the department’s $2 million in overspending on overtime pay in the 2016/17 budget; and the public statements at the ministerial level that consistently downplayed departmental problems, even while internal auditors were discovering and reporting them.
Department of Environmental Health audit: Report highlights overtime abuse
Substantial mismanagement and widespread abuse of the system are blamed for an 800 percent overspend on overtime at the Department of Environmental Health in an internal government audit.
Roydell Carter retires from civil service
After nine months on required leave for unspecified reasons, Roydell Carter, director of the Department of Environmental Health, has chosen to “retire” from the civil service, according to a statement from government Tuesday.
DEH advises on disposal of derelict vehicles
Now that the George Town landfill is again accepting derelict vehicles, the Department of Environmental Health, which operates the dump, is advising the public on the procedure for disposing of such vehicles.
Auditors conduct three-part review of landfill overtime pay
Government auditors are now conducting a tertiary review of overtime payments made to Department of Environmental Health staff, according to information obtained by the Cayman Compass through the Freedom of Information Law.
EDITORIAL – The trashman cometh? DEH offers some hopeful news
At long last, officials seem to be taking as seriously as the disgruntled public the issues at Cayman’s Solid Waste Services. Some problems, of course, cannot be hidden or, to employ an inexact metaphor, “swept under the rug.” Garbage collection is one of them.
New bosses to tackle garbage delays
In an effort to get garbage pick-ups back on schedule, government announced on Thursday that Department of Vehicle and Equipment Services Director Richard Simms has been temporarily appointed as the acting director of the Department of Environmental Health.
Garbage overtime
Today's editorial cartoon.
Minister: $100K overtime paid for trash collection
The Cayman Islands Department of Environmental Health was paying staff $100,000 per month in overtime for garbage collection as of late 2017, Health Minister Dwayne Seymour revealed Friday in the Legislative Assembly.
More delays in garbage collections
The Department of Environmental Health advised residents of some George Town areas to expect delays in garbage collections.
Mystery illnesses plague UCCI
For three years, some employees at the University College of the Cayman Islands have been complaining about health problems they believe are workplace related. But the source of what may be causing such symptoms as skin and respiratory irritations remains a mystery.
DEH: Garbage pick-up resumes Wednesday
Garbage pick-up will resume in some George Town communities on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Department of Environmental Health.
Schools get jingle fever
Cayman’s primary school children are literally singing the praises of recycling and waste reduction, with four schools submitting “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” jingles for an Earth Month competition hosted by the Department of Environmental Health.
EDITORIAL – Brac’s untreated medical waste is a ‘pan-Cayman’ problem
The dozens of red biohazard bags observed by a Compass reporter in the Brac landfill constitute a dangerous and irresponsible disregard for public health that cannot be allowed to continue.
Untreated biomedical waste dumped at Brac landfill
Untreated biomedical waste from Faith Hospital is being dumped at the Cayman Brac landfill, a manner of disposal that may violate public health regulations.
Manderson apologizes for garbage collection failures
Government’s top civil servant has a simple message for residents frustrated with inconsistent household garbage collections: “We’re sorry.”
The Good Life
Today's editorial cartoon
Garbage collection
Today's editorial cartoon
EDITORIAL – Trash pickup: Time for truth from government
When we wrote last week that we feared the result of volunteer Earth Day litter cleanup efforts would be temporary, we meant eventually – not almost as soon as the last trash bag had been tied.
NEW: Water warning issued for parts of Cayman Brac
Residents of Watering Place, Cayman Brac have been advised to refrain from using well water due to high levels of E. Coli and other bacteria.
EDITORIAL – Government’s failure to pick up the trash: How hard can it be?
As our readers are well aware, dysfunction at the Department of Environmental Health goes beyond missed garbage pick-ups. When workers do collect the garbage, the problem then becomes where to put it.
Public’s patience wears thin with erratic garbage pickups
Dumpsters at the George Town landfill for people to drop off their own household waste overflowed into the car park Monday.
Cayman Islands prepares for Earth Day this weekend
Several organizations are hosting events throughout the Cayman Islands to mark Earth Day on Saturday, April 21.
Officials: Permits needed for bonfires
Department of Environmental Health watchdogs are warning Easter campers that they need to have a $25 permit to build fires on the beaches.
Cayman working with UK on developing hazmat response
Hazard Management Cayman Islands is developing a plan for dealing with hazardous materials in the territory, the government announced on Friday.
Derelict vehicles removed during West Bay cleanup
A number of derelict vehicles in the West Bay area were taken to the landfill last week during a district cleanup initiative organized by the West Bay Central community group.
Landfill reopens after fire
The Department of Environmental Health reopened the George Town landfill and its public drop-off point Thursday after closing the site when a fire broke out there around noon on Wednesday.
Fire extinguished at George Town landfill
A fire broke out at the George Town landfill around noon on Wednesday.
Roydell Carter still ‘on leave’
Roydell Carter, the director of the Department of Environmental Health, remains “out of office” as an internal government inquiry over the management of overtime in his department continues.
Recycling picks up on Cayman
The Cayman Islands Department of Environmental Health says it is busily catching up on the waste it recycles.
EDITORIAL – Let us all praise Cayman’s ‘Titans of trash’
Trash collectors are not, and should not be considered, responsible for managerial policies that have led to far too much trash on Cayman being uncollected in recent weeks.
Government : Roydell Carter not suspended
The leadership of the government department responsible for trash collection and the landfill is in flux, with the director out of office and another senior official resigning from his post.
EDITORIAL – When withholding the truth has consequences
As representatives of the public’s interest, government’s first impulse must be to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Extended trash pickups scheduled to address delays
Department of Environmental Health officials say they are ramping up trash pickups in the coming days to address delays in service across the island.
Broken-down vehicles litter Grand Cayman’s roadsides
As broken-down vehicles accumulate on the roadsides of Grand Cayman, government has yet to state how it plans to address the growing problem.
Grand Cayman’s trash problem continues to pile up
Residents and property owners are continuing to complain about inadequate garbage collection around Grand Cayman.
Christmas tree recycling begins
Owners of natural Christmas trees can deposit their trees at six Department of Environmental Health collection points throughout Grand Cayman, the department advised.
Landfill to close early on Friday
The Department of Environmental Health and the George Town landfill will close at 11 a.m. on Friday to facilitate a staff function, according to a department advisory.
Government trash troubles delay garbage pickups
A staff dispute concerning overtime pay and difficulties with operating some of the government’s garbage trucks have led to delays in trash collection and recommendations for an internal audit at Cayman’s Department of Environmental Health.
Bulk waste pickup commences
The Department of Environmental Health began its annual bulk waste removal campaign on Wednesday. It continues through Dec. 20, with specific pickup days for various regions.
