Rid our towns of deadly filth
Uncollected garbage at Ngara in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |
What you need to know:
- Garbage collection is a key duty and obligation of the leaders of towns.
- There is a need for a master plan to create a reliable means to enhance garbage collection and disposal.
The way a town or any other urban centre manages and disposes of its garbage is a good measure of how developed it is.
Urban centres generate a lot of litter and unless it is removed promptly and safely got rid of, it pollutes the environment and becomes a health hazard.
Garbage collection is a key duty and obligation of the leaders of towns.
Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, and the smaller towns have been performing dismally.
Nairobi’s woeful garbage collection is evident right in the city centre.
Even what gets collected is ferried to a dumpsite on the city’s outskirts in ramshackle trucks that litter the route.
Whereas developed cities have efficient systems for sorting and clearing garbage, Nairobi just creates a mountain of rotting garbage in an open field.
Most of the uncollected litter ends up clogging drains, hence the perennial flooding when there is a little rain.
There is a need for a master plan to create a reliable means to enhance garbage collection and disposal.
However, officials cannot do this alone.
A combination of punishment to deter litterers and a campaign to inculcate a civic responsibility to keep the environment clean is what is urgently required.
