Residents of certain neighborhoods in Buea, South West region are raising concerns over the growing heaps of garbage in their localities. Ideally, the waste disposal company takes care of household waste, passing by regularly to collect.
However, this has not been the case for the past couple of weeks in many neighborhoods, owing to a separatist-imposed lockdown.
Another challenge, is the non chalance of some residents who instead of waiting on the waste disposal trucks, dump their garbage by the road side.
A case in point is the Malingo Tap area in Molyko where locals say the garbage heap started with just a few bags of waste and quickly grew to an unsanctioned dump site.
“It is worrisome because it attracts insects such as cockroaches and flies, destroying medications and making patients’ stay unbearable,” Phina, a nurse at a nearby clinic told Camer Today.
If not handled with urgency, locals say, it could lead to possible cases of pollution, cholera and other hygiene-related issues.
“We can’t even breathe properly anymore. The smell is unbearable, especially in the evenings,” lamented a food vendor whose restaurant is just a few meters away from the unsanctioned waste site.
Road users are not left out. With the dirt slowly blocking the road, movement of cars and pedestrians along the stretch is becoming harder by the day.
Beyond blaming the Buea Council, Nchi Joseph, a resident says, locals should bear their part of the responsibility: “People dump new piles of trash everyday and the council should look into the issue by providing garbage bins to ease waste disposal. Sadly, members of this community are contributing to this nastiness”
The Malingo Tap waste management challenge is just one of many others across the town which have often sparked calls for council officials to hold waste disposal company, HYSACAM to higher standards.