Clean, green environment: Garbage removal from residential areas crucial

ISLAMABAD: Irregular cleaning of multiple sizes waste dumpsters, installed at almost every street of Islamabad, has become a constant nuisance for the capital’s dwellers, who are forced to breathe stinking smell arising out of those trash trolleys.

Those waste bins, stuffed with organic and inorganic waste, are becoming breeding places for mosquitoes, posing a serious health risk for the citizens who have called for rectification measures while pointing out irregular visits of sanitation department’s staff to their areas.

Regular removal of garbage from the trash trolleys has become indispensable to the clean and green environment of the federal capital. “This is the only thing that seriously undermines beauty of Islamabad-the beautiful,” said Ishfaq Ahmed, a student of Environmental Sciences and resident of Sector G-6, Islamabad.

He called upon the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to make sure regular visits of their sanitation staff to the residential area so as to ensure timely cleansing of the dumpsters. Another resident from Sector I-9, Haseeb ur Rehman, underlined the need for placing those bins out of the residential areas, terming them a potential source of various viral diseases such as diarrhoea.

Sustainable solid waste management is crucial to prevention of vector-borne diseases, specifically in urban environments that favour urban vectors such as Aedes species, a health expert Dr Qasim Raza told this agency.

He called for timely cleaning of the dumpsters and warned that the foul smell of garbage polluted the air that eventually spread respiratory and skin related diseases among residents of surrounding areas.

Qasim observed that asthma patients were more prone to the foul smell produced by these over-flowing garbage dumpsters. It also wreaked havoc with the public moods, he added.

People, who had to bear its smell all the day, might have more aggressive behaviour, Qasim claimed. He explained that the bins mostly contained food waste. Its initial breakdown and subsequent decomposition by the micro-organisms both created an unpleasant smell.

When contacted the CDA Sanitation Department, an official source said all-out efforts were being made to ensure the cleanliness of the Federal Capital in limited resources. He said he did not authorize to speak to the media when pressed for further details. However, CDA Director Sanitation Sardar Zimri, who is quite media-friendly, could not be reached despite many attempts.