IRINGA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL IS NOT ALONE IN FAILING TO COLLECT OPTIMUM REFUSE DAILY

BY FRIDAY SIMBAYA

5th April 2015

The Iringa Municipal Council.

The Iringa Municipal Council has responded to public anger over uncollected garbage from open dumps in streets and neighborhoods, with the town generating close to 108,000 tonnes everyday. 

But the municipal council with its aging infrastructure simply cannot cope up with the increased waste as only 60 per cent can be collected, according to internal sources.

The Sanitation Health Officer Ezekiel Mbushi told The Guardian on Sunday yesterday that uncollected trash was due to breakdown of four wheel vehicle used for collecting garbage.

"All the vehicles are grounded at the moment and have been taken to a garage for maintenance. We expect to bring them to work as soon as they are maintained," 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. "The municipal council can only collect 60 percent of garbage produced everyday by residents due to limited resources," Mbushi said.

He said the council with a population close to 200,000 receives very little from the grant from the central government, which could not enable it to handle all its matters. 

"We have no landfill site for disposing of waste due to lack of skills...using an old method of treating waste dubbed crude dumping at selected dumping site which is very expensive,” he explained. 

Mbushi pointed out that Iringa residents dump their trash in the streets, not because they are poor but because of habit and culture.

Michael Mvula a vendor at Kihesa area who conducts his business near Idunda garbage dump told this Reporter that he has lost customers because of stench in 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 a lot flies on the dump and children are picking up things from refuse which is dangerous to their health," he lamented.

Also another resident, Mama Joshua, said uncollected rubbish is a problem in her area and urged local leaders to do something before things get worse.

"We want our leaders to do something about the garbage at the dump by sending it to the disposing site," she said, adding that uncollected rubbish will course an outbreak pandemic disease to the community like cholera, malaria and typhoid.

The Guardian on Sunday Reporter witnessed 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 a prime habitat of rodents, houseflies and mosquitoes that can spread malaria and dengue fever.

At Idunda road side garbage dump children scavaging on the refuse and also where some dogs feast 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 massive 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 neighbourhoods of Ndiuka, Ipogoro, Mwangata, Isoka, Isakalilo Ilala, Kihesa, Semtema, Mtwivilla and Frelimo but just to mention a few.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN