Waste Management Director Warns of Crisis Conditions, Details Landfill and Wastewater Challenges

Less than two months after taking over as executive director of the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, Hannibal Ware delivered his first official briefing to lawmakers on Tuesday, outlining what he described as a waste management system under severe strain. Testifying before the Committee on Government Operations, Veterans Affairs and Consumer Protection, Ware detailed the breadth of challenges facing the agency and the steps underway to address them. “Our system, stretched far beyond its intended capacity, is now in crisis,” Ware said at the start of his testimony. He described the current conditions as “a culmination of longstanding structural issues, historical underinvestment and aging infrastructural conditions that have left us with limited room for error.” Ware told senators that both landfills are at capacity, wastewater collection systems are collapsing, and the agency lacks a stable funding structure. Despite the severity of the situation, he pointed to early progre...