Sharjah: Sharjah's Immigration Department, in coordination with Bee'ah, an environmental company, on Tuesday launched a campaign against scavengers who collect waste from municipality bins in the emirate.
"A dedicated anti-scavenging task force has been set up to patrol collection areas in the Emirate of Sharjah, to investigate individuals going through municipal containers and to deal with these illegal immigrants in accordance with the UAE regulations," Brigadier General Dr Abdullah Ali Saeed Bin Sahoo, Director-General, Department of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Sharjah, said.
Khalid Al Huraimel, Chief Executive of Bee'ah, said that by safeguarding a waste management system, they will be able to ensure that recyclable materials are processed in a professional and safe manner.
Warning signs
"Waste scavengers residing in Sharjah are usually illegal residents and, in best cases, fall in the low-income groups. Or they are individuals with expired visas or residency permits or people who have absconded from their employers or entered the UAE without any proper documents," Al Huraimel said.
The programme will also include setting up of signs on all of Sharjah's Municipal waste collection bins, warning scavengers in six languages, including Arabic and Urdu.
The warning states: "Taking items from these bins is strictly prohibited."
The anti-scavenging task force's first raid, which took place on April 5, 2011, resulted in the confiscation of over 47 tonnes of recyclable material.
It also led to the arrest of 36 waste scavengers residing in the country illegally.
Regular raids
Such raids will be carried out periodically throughout Sharjah — targeting scavengers and companies recruiting such people — on a regular basis, in the next two years.
The programme is in response to residents' complaints about the noise created by scavengers browsing through bins during early morning hours.
It also triggered public health concerns.
"Scavenging or ‘dumpster diving' can be a major cause of a public disease outbreak due to the unsafe handling of unknown or hazardous waste. This sort of foul activity is not tolerated in developed countries and modern societies around the world, and it will not be allowed here either," Jeremy Byatt, Vice-President at Bee'ah said.
Hotline
Authorities are urging Sharjah residents to report any scavenging activity by calling 800-tandeef (800 8263333) or the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs of Sharjah.
