Fort-Liberté residents demand action as new landfill remains closed

FORT-LIBERTÉ —  More than four months after Haitian officials and international partners inaugurated a modern landfill intended to transform waste management in the Northeast Department, the facility remains closed, forcing nearby municipalities to dump garbage around the site and prompting residents to demand immediate action.

The landfill cannot begin operating until a weighbridge—an essential scale for weighing garbage trucks—is installed, according to Luckin Charles, the Ministry of the Environment’s regional director for the Northeast. 

“It’s the weighbridge, which is not yet operational, that is preventing the site from functioning normally,” Charles said.

“It will be used to measure the volume of waste entering the facility. This is considered essential for managing landfill operations.”

The Morne Casse Technical Landfill Center, located between Fort-Liberté and Ouanaminthe, officially opened on Jan. 30. Built by Haiti’s Ministry of the Environment with $8 million in support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Japanese government, the 22,000-square-meter facility was designed to replace informal dumping sites that have long contributed to pollution and public health concerns across the region.

Instead, residents say the area surrounding the landfill has become an open-air dump.

Every day, garbage trucks from Fort-Liberté, Ouanaminthe and Ferrier communes unload waste near the facility while authorities wait for a critical piece of equipment needed to begin operations.

“Foul odors, environmental pollution and the accumulation of waste threaten the health of Duma’s residents,” said Lucien Elusma, a farmer who lives in the Duma communal section near the site.

For residents, the consequences extend beyond sanitation concerns.

People traveling between Duma, Ouanaminthe and Ferrier routinely pass piles of garbage. Farmers say cattle and goats forage through the waste, raising concerns about animal health and food safety. During rainfall, residents report that runoff from the trash flows into nearby ravines and agricultural land.

Questions remain over the delayed opening

While officials point to the missing weighbridge as the immediate cause of the delay, questions remain about why the equipment has not been installed more than four months after the facility’s inauguration.

Charles said municipalities have recently stopped using older dumping sites and are now depositing waste around the new center instead, making the problem urgent to resolve, according to the regional director of the environment.

A source familiar with the project, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, alleged that funds intended for the weighbridge purchase were mishandled. But The Haitian Times could not independently verify the claim. A project manager did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“The person entrusted with purchasing the weighbridge allegedly left the country with the funds,” the source said.

No public investigation or official confirmation of the allegation has been announced.

In March last year, authorities reported that the landfill project was stalled because of a $300K shortfall. 

Then,  the same month, during a site visit, Ministry of Environment experts identified several critical issues that need immediate attention:

• Lack of heavy-duty waterproof plastic sheets, which are crucial to isolating waste and preventing soil contamination.
• Poor water management, requiring adjustments to prevent runoff and flooding.
• Absence of a scale, making it impossible to track waste intake efficiently.
• No selective waste sorting system, limiting recycling and proper waste management.
• Flood barrier structures below safety standards, requiring reinforcement to prevent overflow.
• Lack of waste compaction equipment, particularly a bulldozer, reducing the landfill’s lifespan.

Work resumed a few months later, with project managers reducing the landfill area from 48,000 to 22,000 square meters and spending just about $2 million of the $8 million in allocated funds. The site was inaugurated this year, with residents expecting it to be fully operational then.                                  

Charles said responsibility for managing waste around the site falls to the National Solid Waste Management Service (SNGRS). He added that the agency currently has no representative stationed in the Northeast Department.

The SNGRS Director General, Daril Balthazar, did not respond to a request for an interview about the situation.