admin
THE reckless disposal of waste by communities has become a cause for concern and only grabs the spotlight when a disease outbreak is traced back to poor waste management practices.
There is a tendency by communities to think that the responsibility of policing to ensure safe environments restA� with the local authorities and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA). We believe this should be everybodya��s responsibility to ensure that we live in safe environments, where it should be a pleasure to raise our children.
Illegal dumping sites in many suburbs have encroached onto roads and pose a danger not only to traffic but to the health of our children and even our pets.
Last week we carried an article in which someone took it a step further by disposing medical waste comprising several used syringes, blood-stained cotton wool and tablets in Nketa 9 suburb.
We all know how childrena��s curious little minds could lead them into turning some of these dangerous and contaminated waste products into toys, hence exposing themselves to danger.
We believe someone somewhere would know where such waste would be coming from and that it should be everyonea��s responsibility to make sure that such individuals that expose communities to danger are exposed and punished.
The amount of illegal dumping in many areas is quite worrying since babies, pets and domestic waste are always being picked at these illegal dumping points.
Some of the waste that is being disposed of illegally could be highly poisonous and have long-term effects that include poisoning underground water sources meaning the impact could be disastrous to future generations.
We would like to urge communities to act responsibly by ensuring that their waste is put out to be collected by council refuse trucks. The reason why there is such a facility is because health authorities are aware of the repercussions of not having proper solid waste management systems in place.
Our health is quite important.A� We are almost into winter and refuse collection is done mostly in the mornings, and those that oversleep are likely to take out their refuse after refuse trucks have done their rounds.A� It is mostly such people that then resort to illegal dumping but residents should assist in protecting their environment by blowing the whistle on such deviance.
Online Reporter