The Tribune

FREEPORT – On February 2, Junior Junkanoo will take to the streets of downtown Freeport, following the excitement of the Senior Junkanoo on New Year’s Day.

Back to make sure the streets are clean and pristine after these big events will be Sanitation Services, who are contracted by the Grand Bahama Port Authority to keep Freeport looking shipshape all the time.

“During large events we put out additional thirty cubic yard bins,” said general manager of Sanitation Services, Lou Carroll.

“These help with some of the additional garbage that is produced, but we also have smaller bins around non-accessible areas.”

Mr Carroll and his team have these bins out before events begin and then clean the streets and areas immediately after.

“The New Year’s staff worked all night and then the major clean-up began for us about 3am and finished around 9am this year,” Mr Carroll said.

One of his and city organisers’ main challenges is the refuse, which is just thrown down anywhere. “Unfortunately people know we are going to clean up and they can be a bit careless. It would be wonderful if they attempted to put trash in our bins,” said Troy McIntosh, city manager at GBPA. “In this vein we are working with Mr Carroll and his team to see if we can give our vendors additional garbage bins at their booths to help combat this issue.”

Organisers’ concerns also extend to the tourism factor, as many visitors attend these events and no one wants them to see a dirty looking city.

“Our Junkanooers work incredibly hard to produce a wonderful show for guests and their family and friends, but we also want them to see a vibrant and clean city. We need to be cognisant of this and help where we can,” added Mr McIntosh.

In addition to the trash, Sanitation also helps in the removal of actual costumes and larger Junkanoo pieces that are not saved or have fallen apart during laps.

“Our clamshell trucks unit comes in late and collects the larger Junkanoo pieces,” explained Mr Carroll. “For everyone else its back to work first thing in the morning so we need to have the roads open and safe for traffic flow and accessibility.”

All refuse is taken to the landfill and the street cleaners come in to help return the city centre back to normal.

“We are very pleased to host these events in Freeport but we must also make sure to keep our island looking beautiful for our visitors and residents,” said Mr McIntosh.

“Working together we can make our events a bit cleaner and nicer for us all.”