Sharjah: The foul stench from municipal waste bins continues to disturb residents, leaving them unable to open their windows if they want a breath of fresh air.
Residents in several neighbourhoods blamed the odour on supermarkets and grocery stores disposing of their food incorrectly.
"I cannot [open the windows] due to the stench coming right up to the house, thanks to the open garbage that emits a bad odour. I also see men coming in and rummaging through the garbage to pick up leftover fruit and vegetables that are disposed of by a well-known supermarket nearby," said Sandhya Shetty, an Al Qasimia resident
"I have [seen] people eating food directly after taking it out of the bin, and at least for humanity's sake [the authorities should set up] proper disposal methods rather than indirectly being responsible for causing illnesses to the individual who consumes it," said Shetty.
Hussain Ebrahim, an Al Yarmook resident, has had to put up with smelly municipality dustbins for several years now.
"I live in a residential area and sometimes the dustbins are unbearable to walk past by. People throw large quantities of food after they are done with their lunch, and by late afternoon the odour is terrible."
The issue of inappropriate waste disposal has been taken up by Tandeef, and a senior official at Bee'ah, a Sharjah waste management company, confirmed, "in partnership with Sharjah City Municipality, we have plans to put into place measures to limit commercial entities, such as supermarkets and restaurants, from disposing of their food waste inappropriately." However, he declined to comment further.
He said by January 2012 the single-stream metal municipal waste bins will be replaced with two blue and green plastic bins which will help prevent smells, keep the area clean and encourage waste segregation into recyclable and general waste.
Pavements will be re-engineered in collaboration with Sharjah Municipality to accommodate these bins to avoid any traffic disruption.
"These new bins will have a foot pedal to open the lid when depositing the waste and automatically close afterwards, preventing any exposure of waste and eliminate flies," he said.
He added the new bins will be made out of material to stop the contents from overheating.
