Jamaica calls for hazardous waste management convention

Jamaica called for a comprehensive management convention to guide how Caribbean countries handle the import-export of hazardous waste, said government information service JIS.

Speaking at the Caribbean conference on solid waste management held in Jamaica, the senior director of the local environment ministry, Gillian Guthrie Guthrie, called for the creation of a hazardous waste management regional center.

Many Caribbean countries are "exporting hazardous waste, and those of us who are not exporting it are dumping it or storing it for indefinite periods, which is very bad," said Guthrie.