Uncollected garbage fouling ICT’s pristine environment

The irregular removal of garbage and cleaning of waste dumpsters installed at almost every street of Islamabad has become a constant nuisance for the capital’s residents. They are forced to breathe the foul air arising out of these trash trolleys. The waste bins, stuffed with organic and inorganic waste, are becoming breeding places for mosquitoes, pose a serious health risk for citizens.

Residents have asked for rectification measures and demanded that the sanitation department staff pay regular visits to their areas to collect garbage.

“Regular removal of garbage from trash trolleys has become indispensable for a clean and green environment of the federal capital. This is the only thing that seriously undermines the 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 to ensure prompt collection by the sanitation staff of trash from dumpsters.

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Sector I-9 resident Haseeb ur Rehman, underlined the need for placing trash bins out of residential areas, saying they were a potential source of viral diseases like diarrhoea. “Sustainable solid waste management is crucial to the prevention of vector-borne diseases, specifically in urban environments that favour urban vectors such as Aedes species of mosquito,” health expert Dr Qasim Raza told APP.

He advised citizens to insist upon timely cleaning of dumpsters and warned that the foul smell of garbage polluting the air results in the eventual spread of respiratory and skin related diseases among residents of surrounding areas.

He observed that asthma patients were more prone to the foul smell produced by over-flowing garbage dumpsters. It also wreaked havoc with the public moods, he added. People, who have had to bear its smell all through the day, are more prone to aggressive behaviour.

Dr Raza explained that the bins mostly contained food waste. The initial breakdown and subsequent decomposition by micro-organisms both create an unpleasant smell.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2021.