This is one of the example of uncollected rubbish at Iringa Soko Kuu Market in Iringa Municipal Council, Iringa Region taken recently. (PHOTO: FRIDAY SIMBAYA)
IRINGA: The Iringa municipal government has responded to public anger over uncollected rubbish from the open dumps in the streets and neighborhoods which have been lying idle for several weeks now.
The Sanitation Health Officer, Ezekiel Mbushi told the Guardian
yesterday during an exclusive interview that uncollected trash in the town was due to the breakdown of four (4) vehicles used for collecting garbage.
"All the vehicles are grounded at the moment and have been taken to garage for maintenance and they will back on the road as soon as
possible," he said.
He said that the municipal council has only four vehicles that are
carrying containers of garbage from around the town including one
compaction system which was bought recently.
Mbushi said that the town generates close to 108,000 tons of garbage everyday but the municipal council with its aging infrastructure simply cannot cope up with the waste only sixty percent can be collected.
"The municipal council can only collect 60 percent of garbage produced everyday by residents due to limited resources," he said.
He said that Iringa municipal council has a population close to
200,000 people but only received very little portion of grant from the central government.
"We have not landfill site for disposing waste this is due to lack of
skills but we are using an old method of waste treatment called crude dumping at the selected dumping site. Landfill form of treating waste is every expensive which needs us to have a bulldozer," he elaborated.
He pointed out that Iringa resident dump their trash in the streets
not because they are poor, but because of habit and culture.
Michael Mvula a resident of Kihesa who is doing his business near
Idunda garbage dump told the reporter that he has lost customers
because of stinking air that comes from the uncollected trash.
He maintained that his business has gone down and no customers were coming to buy things because of bad air and flies coming from the dump.
"There are lot houseflies on the dump and children are picking up
things from refuse which is dangerous to their health," he lamented.
And also other resident called by the name of Mama Joshua said
uncollected rubbish is problem in her area and urged local leaders to do some before things got worse.
She said that uncollected rubbish will course an outbreak pandemic
disease to the community like cholera, malaria and typhoid.
"We want our leaders to do something about the garbage at the dump by collecting them and take them to the disposing site," she said.
The Guardian reporter yesterday saw some piles of garbage on the open dumps all around town in the neighborhoods as a fixture of the landscape to be seen but somehow ignored.
The rubbish is also a public health threat, serving as a prime habitat
of rodents, houseflies and mosquitoes that can spread malaria and
dengue fever.
I made my first stop at Idunda road side garbage dump where I saw
children scavenging on the refuse and also where some dogs and chicken feasting on the refuse.
Garbage is like a bomb waiting to explode. It is a breeding ground for many diseases like cholera, typhoid and malaria.
Iringa has a garbage problem which is the product of rapid economic growth, overcrowding, poor urban planning, corrosive corruption and political dysfunction.
The problem of uncollected garbage is even worse in some neighborhoods of Ndiuka, Ipogoro, Mwangata, Isoka, Isakalilo,ilala, Kihesa, Semtema, Mtwivilla and Frelimo but just to mention a few.
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