Overflowing dumpsters continue to plague Abu Dhabi streets and residents
ABU DHABI // The years-old problem of overflowing rubbish dumpsters blocking roads and making a stink has still not been tackled in areas across the capital.
Downtown areas of the city such as Elektra Street, Al Zahiyah, Al Falah, Fatima bint Mubarak, Khalifa, Madinat Zayed and Defence roads are badly affected, with residents complaining about the smell and unsightly scene outside their apartment blocks each day.
Despite several stories highlighting the issue in this newspaper, the Centre of Waste Management (Tadweer) has taken no action on developing an alternative collection system and instead lays blame at the building watchmen who place the steel bins on the street, even though no fines are issued against them for supposed wrongdoing.
Egyptian Ataullah Rajab, who lives in Elektra Street, said it was an everyday problem that residents can do nothing about.
"If authorities take strict action then this could be resolved, otherwise it will continue like that," he said.
"It’s very difficult to pass by them because of the extremely foul smell."
He said bins are often left in the street for hours before they are collected, which is one of the issues Tadweer says lies with watchmen.
Bangladeshi resident Hamdan Jahangeer Alam agreed that waste left to rot for hours was an issue.
"Watchmen that place them they should be dealt with and fined for leaving [the bins] in the open for hours," he said. "It’s a serious health issue and it must be immediately addressed."
A spokesman for Tadweer said: "Bins owned by the commercial and residential buildings in the city have to be properly placed by watchmen away from road corridors.
"The people who are responsible for this usually cooperate with Tadweer for a certain period of time, especially during or after an awareness campaigns. We are working with our strategic governmental partners to prevent these negative behaviours and to ensure getting the bins out only during waste collection times."
However, watchmen hit back, saying that they have no option but to take the dumpsters out when they are full and ready for collection.
"When it’s overflowing we have to bring it out and place it here. If we don’t do that it will be difficult for us to collect the shattered waste on the floor, which is dropped from waste chutes," said Shuheil, a watchman in Al Zahiyah.
As well as the obvious health threat, the dumpsters can also obstruct roads and block a driver’s vision, which can lead to car accidents.
Indian Yahya Sheikh, who was exiting a car park off Fatima bint Mubarak Street, said it is a danger.
"Always these bins are placed on the road and block the view. We can’t see which vehicle is coming from either direction," he said. "We see them when half our car is on the street and it’s dangerous."
However, one area to escape the problem is Khalidiyah, which is well serviced through an underground waste collection system only operated there.
Tadweer did not say if it would consider a similar system across the city, only that it was preparing another awareness campaign for watchmen in a bid to address the issue.
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