A new incentive-based plan to crack down on chronic illegal dumping and littering across Antigua and Barbuda has been put forward by Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who is pushing to reward community members who provide evidence that leads to successful convictions of offenders.
Browne first unveiled the proposal during a Saturday appearance on the popular *Browne and Browne Show* broadcast on Pointe FM, where he centered the conversation on ongoing challenges to address unregulated waste disposal and unsightly litter that have marred the country’s public spaces.
Under the drafted framework, local residents would be empowered to document illegal dumping activity by capturing photographs of vehicles engaged in improper waste disposal, with clear images of license plates required to validate submissions. Crucially, all reports could be filed anonymously, eliminating fears of retaliation for community members who choose to speak up.
The prime minister noted that the proposed fine for a single littering offense currently stands at Eastern Caribbean $3,000, though he conceded that there is uncertainty around whether this penalty has already been formally codified into national law. “I’m not too sure if we’d put this in law, but I’m going to ask the attorney general to address it,” Browne stated during the broadcast.
Per the reward structure, half of any collected fine – an amount equal to Eastern Caribbean $1,500 for a full conviction – would be disbursed directly to the individual whose tip and evidence resulted in enforcement action and a guilty verdict.
Browne used the platform to call out repeated bad behavior by residents who discard construction debris, household trash, and other types of waste in protected green spaces, rather than transporting the waste to the official, designated disposal facility located at Cooks. He emphasized that the national government already devotes a significant portion of public funds to annual cleaning and beautification projects across both islands of the nation, but persistent indiscriminate dumping continues to undermine these costly public investment efforts.
In addition to the reward program for major dumping offenses, the prime minister also called for tougher enforcement action against motorists who toss bottles, cans, and other small rubbish items out of moving or parked vehicles. He confirmed that municipal wardens working in the capital city of St. John’s have already received new instructions to step up compliance checks, including issuing penalty tickets to local commercial businesses that leave their waste containers and trash outside their storefronts during unapproved collection time windows.
Moving forward, Browne confirmed that the government will first conduct a formal review to confirm the legally mandated fine amount for littering offenses, before drafting concrete regulatory guidelines to outline how the new informant reward system will operate, moving the proposal from concept to potential policy implementation.