Garbage collection carts, a source of insalubrity

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Extract from the article: Lomé's neighborhoods produce large quantities of household waste. To avoid an explosion in garbage volumes, an alternative to organized collection is to use carts. These carts carry out the collection directly on the ground. However, it is with disap

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Lomé's neighborhoods produce large quantities of household waste. To avoid an explosion in garbage volumes, an alternative to organized collection is to use carts. These carts carry out the collection directly on the ground. However, it is with disappointment that we note that in certain neighborhoods, they visibly contribute to increasing insalubrity.

The advent of refuse collection carts was encouraged by the majority of the Togolese population. But the question of insalubrity still arises in Lomé. Although measures have been taken by the competent authorities, the fact remains that the garbage these carts leave on the road gives the city a very bad image.  In the course of their duties, these carts leave heaps of garbage along the streets, a situation which leads the population to question their role. Most of them are not covered, allowing garbage and foul odors to escape.

A survey carried out in the Adidogomé district showed that some houses have subscribed and regularly pay garbage collection fees to the companies in question. However, the owners of these homes are victims of a kind of scam.  Gérard, a microfinance employee in his forties, confides: "In our house, we respect the contract and pay our fees. But we've noticed that the garbage collectors very rarely come. As they please, but when it comes to taking the money at the end of the month, they're there," he says indignantly.

The man's face confused, but he continued in a scathing tone. "At the end of last month, they came by and we paid them, but they didn't come for the whole month. The proof is that we're paying without getting the result we're hoping for, and you can see the garbage behind my room". You could smell the fetid odor of a pile of garbage made up of both liquid and solid waste piled up near his window, which he pointed to as proof.

The weakness of the garbage collection system has plunged some neighborhoods into a critical sanitary environment of accumulated garbage. The discontent of city dwellers is exacerbated by the multiplication of garbage stagnation areas in neighborhoods' common open spaces. When this visible accumulation and the smell of rotting garbage exceed the threshold of tolerable discomfort, these unmanaged local landfill situations actually cause health anxiety among the local population. It is therefore the responsibility of municipal authorities and the public sanitation service to put in place or reinforce certain mechanisms to channel the activities of garbage collection carts and raise awareness of the damaging effects of insalubrity in Togo. Poor household waste management is a serious public health problem. A source of environmental pollution, it is also at the root of deadly epidemic diseases such as malaria, cholera and typhoid.

Jean ELI