CAPITALI$M IS WA$TE
'Our hands are tied': Liberia grapples with heaps of city waste"But we as community people, our hands are tied." Many in Liberia's congested capital Monrovia say a lack of waste management has become a full-blown crisis, with rubbish overflowing on streets and lapping at doorsteps.
Reuters | Updated: 28-04-2022
Representative image Image
As the sunset over Liberia's vast West Point slum, youth leader Archie Gbezay shook his head as children meandered around dense piles of trash, playing catch with jars of old hair product plucked from polluted puddles of water. Gbezay, 34, has seen his neighbors in corrugated iron shacks grapple with flash floods, a crumbling coastline, and a devastating Ebola epidemic.
But he cannot come to terms with the state of the nearby beach, patches of sand barely visible beneath the rubbish. "It threatens our existence as people and poses a serious health hazard," he said of the trash. "But we as community people, our hands are tied."
Many in Liberia's congested capital Monrovia say a lack of waste management has become a full-blown crisis, with rubbish overflowing on streets and lapping at doorsteps. There are only three designated dumpsites in the city center and a few garbage trucks with sporadic collection times.
Dirty water of mostly plastic trash is pictured behind homes and under latrines on stilts in West Point, one of the poorest and most densely populated communities in Monrovia, Liberia March 7, 2022.
Mounds of trash can grow two meters (6.6 feet) high and, at their worst, span an entire block before being removed. Monrovia Mayor Jefferson Koijee said there are plans to expand the truck fleet and that 120 "waste monitors" have been hired for the worst-affected areas.
But the problem must be tackled collectively, he said. "I don't find comfort in presiding over a dirty city (or) pleasure in being questioned about the city being disorganized," he told Reuters. "Every individual has a responsibility to ensure this city is clean."
As the sunset over Liberia's vast West Point slum, youth leader Archie Gbezay shook his head as children meandered around dense piles of trash, playing catch with jars of old hair product plucked from polluted puddles of water. Gbezay, 34, has seen his neighbors in corrugated iron shacks grapple with flash floods, a crumbling coastline, and a devastating Ebola epidemic.
But he cannot come to terms with the state of the nearby beach, patches of sand barely visible beneath the rubbish. "It threatens our existence as people and poses a serious health hazard," he said of the trash. "But we as community people, our hands are tied."
Many in Liberia's congested capital Monrovia say a lack of waste management has become a full-blown crisis, with rubbish overflowing on streets and lapping at doorsteps. There are only three designated dumpsites in the city center and a few garbage trucks with sporadic collection times.
Dirty water of mostly plastic trash is pictured behind homes and under latrines on stilts in West Point, one of the poorest and most densely populated communities in Monrovia, Liberia March 7, 2022.
Mounds of trash can grow two meters (6.6 feet) high and, at their worst, span an entire block before being removed. Monrovia Mayor Jefferson Koijee said there are plans to expand the truck fleet and that 120 "waste monitors" have been hired for the worst-affected areas.
But the problem must be tackled collectively, he said. "I don't find comfort in presiding over a dirty city (or) pleasure in being questioned about the city being disorganized," he told Reuters. "Every individual has a responsibility to ensure this city is clean."
A woman sits with her daughter near one of the many trash-filled drainage ditches in Monrovia, Liberia March 7, 2022.
Businesswoman Vivian Bhatti hired a group of young men to clear the trash from some of the busiest streets ahead of Liberia's bicentennial launch celebrations in February. "I decided to give this route a facelift to showcase the cleanliness and uniqueness of Liberians," she said. "Us Liberians have to take up the initiative."
Marketers sell their goods across from a large pile of trash behind the Rally Time market in Monrovia, Liberia March 5, 2022. Picture taken March 5, 2022.
PHOTOS REUTERS/Carielle Doe
No comments:
Post a Comment