Sharjah: Residents are urging authorities to reconsider changing the time municipality rubbish containers are emptied as it causes traffic congestion to motorists commuting in the morning.
The aluminium rubbish containers are emptied during the morning and as a result, motorists have no other alternative but to wait patiently behind them as they finish their job.
Some such areas that affect motorists are Al Majaz and King Faisal Street, as the narrow stretch of road is unable to provide motorists with enough space to manoeuvre around the municipality trucks.
Caroline Lucia, a resident of King Faisal, explained that she usually drives a maximum of ten minutes along a single-lane service road in order to avoid traffic on the main road.
"A garbage truck stopped the whole line behind Spinneys, which is a single-file lane since parking has been allotted to cars and other vehicles on both sides of the same small road, thereby creating unwarranted congestion for those reversing from the parking line and those trying to move forward," she said.
Long wait
"It was impossible to even think of turning back or hedging forward so you are squashed behind the truck with no choice but to wait it out. The rubbish trucks took a cool 30 minutes to collect and empty five garbage dumpsters along the way."
In response to residents' queries, an official at Bee'ah, the Sharjah Environment Company that handles waste for Sharjah Municipality, pointed out that the trucks move at 25 kilometres per hour, and that they empty the rubbish containers during the day from 4am to 12.30pm.
"If need be, we also empty operate in the afternoon so that the city can be as clean as possible. We always take our customers into consideration, and decided not to operate at night so as not to disturb them while they are asleep," said George Yanos, Vice-President of Operations at Bee'ah.
Information
- Residents can call waste collection on toll free number 800-tandeef (8263333).
