Eight months after Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley ordered an investigation into the laundry operated by Sandals Resorts amidst complaints about the environmental impact it was having on the community, some frustrated residents are now calling for its immediate closure.
Last week a group of residents met with a Nation team outside the laundry’s location at 4th Avenue Dover, Christ Church, and pointed out that their concerns had not been washed away and they were still experiencing a myriad of problems stemming mainly from the 24-hour operated laundry.
For the past eight years residents have been complaining about noise pollution, the circulation of lint, as well as toxic odours from the laundry.
While they have had several meetings with management at the luxury hotel, they charged that the problems have persisted despite an investigation which was ordered and Sandals promising to install machinery at the laundry to decrease noise and contain the lint.
Furthermore, residents lamented that no assistance had been forthcoming from the Environmental Protection Department, the Government agency which deals with environmental issues.
While this newspaper has not received a response from management of the hotel, Government officials are reporting that the laundry will eventually be relocated.
Dr William Duguid, senior minister with responsibility for coordinating infrastructural projects, who was tasked along with Minister of the Environment Adrian Forde by the Prime Minister last October to meet with management to discuss the issues being faced by residents, said Sandals was trying to find another location for the laundry.
“I spoke to the general manager and he has confirmed that they are currently looking for a suitable location midway between the two facilities,” Duguid said in reference to the Christ Church location and the St Peter location that is presently under construction.
He added: “Over the last few days they have installed a new suction apparatus to suck the lint down so it doesn’t expose to the atmosphere. They are actively engaged in minimising the distress that is caused to the residents.”
Duguid also pointed out that Sandals personnel would meet with the residents to update them.
Residents, however, remain exasperated as they charge they have heard this before.
Dulene Bradshaw, who lives opposite the laundry and who said she had been severely affected with health issues due to lint blowing into her home, added: “It is unfortunate that I have to speak on this issue again. We have had no relief from the stench, from the lint, from the noise. There is now an added problem of a random alarm going off any hour of the day, where I have to contact the hotel every time to say, ‘Well, your alarm has gone off’ and it can last sometimes five minutes, sometimes 15, sometimes up to half hour and no one seems to be able to resolve it.”
Pointing out that she was the one who drew the matter to the attention of the Prime Minister during the Christ Church Parish Speaks, she said residents felt disrespected by management at the hotel who continued to issue them with unfulfilled promises.
“Minister Duguid and Minister Forde came out and they did a walk-around with management of the hotel. They did come to me but I cannot say that it was a productive conversation because I was never told what they found, what is going to be done, when it is going to be done, how it is going to be done, nothing.”
Another longstanding resident, who requested anonymity, said they have had numerous meetings with management at the hotel.
“We’ve had meetings, we’ve sat down with them, the general management, the PR people and nothing has changed. We’ve got promises, promises, promises. Last year we had two meetings in June and September facilitated by the Barbados Hotel Association and yet nothing.”
She said apart from the environmental issues, residents were also fed up with how the staff park, blaring loud music from the early hours of the morning to late at night, shouting and smoke that smells like weed.
“You know, over the noise of this thing, just nobody gets any sleep and this thing, like the lint blowing, it’s all over the place. We told them about the smell, which is so bad. The last thing that we would have been told by the manager was that parts were, I think, in Miami and they were trying to decide when and how to get them here.”
Resident Ryan Sugrim said there were times when Sanitation Service Authority trucks could not get into the district for garbage collection because of inconsiderate parking by staff.
“And don’t talk about the litter – it’s terrible,” he said as he complained that staff would throw garbage around the street.
In terms of the stench and the alarm, he said: “That’s why I don’t open the windows at night, or even during the day because it’s annoying. If you’re trying to rest, you can’t get [any] rest.”
Bert Arthur added: “They throw everything from condoms to bottles and used food containers. It’s annoying what I have to pick up from my vacant lot.”
After all these years of endurance, the upset residents are now firm in their call for the laundry to be closed.
