Abu Dhabi: Eighty per cent of households are responsible if they find pests in their home after spraying because they lack hygiene, according to a top official from Abu Dhabi’s Waste Management Centre, Tadweer.
“Even after the spraying of pesticides, there is an 80 per cent responsibility on behalf of households. We use the best pesticides in the world that approved by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, but if there is no best hygiene practice at home the pest will come back within 15 days,” Mohammad Al Marzouqi, Director of Pest Control Projects at Tadweer, told Gulf News.
“Residents think that if they spray once it’s done and pests are gone, but no, it’s not like that. They should ask the pest control companies, ‘Why do I still have pests in my home, and what am I doing wrong?’”
Even after spraying of pesticides, there is an 80 per cent responsibility on behalf of households... if there is no best hygiene practice at home the pest will return within 15 days.
“Cleaning is not just about sweeping the floor, we also need to move furniture and electrical equipment like cookers and fridges and clean behind them.
“Yes, we have cockroaches, it’s part of life, but it’s not enough just to spray the flat, what about your neighbours and whether they are spraying their apartment? And who is spraying the garbage chute area?”
Al Marzouqi warned against leaving food out and told residents to check cartons and containers coming into the house from fruit and vegetable markets.
“We go to fruit and vegetable markets and bring boxes into the house that could be carrying cockroaches and other pests. Most fruits are not produced in the UAE, they are imported, so these boxes could have accumulated all kinds of pests.
“When we bring these cartons into the house, cockroaches venture out and shelter in kitchen corners and behind cookers and fridges, and then they start breeding.”
To avoid this, he said, containers should be replaced with carrier bags, or kept outside before food is cleaned and taken to the fridge.
As for neighbours, he said, “If there is a gap where cockroaches can enter from your neighbour’s side, they will enter even if you have sprayed.”
He also advised against cleaning after spraying, as chemicals used were safe.
“Death and poisoning cases don’t belong to any company, it happens when someone tries to do it themselves with unrecommended toxins. These products are intended for industrial not residential use.
“Aluminium phosphide is very harmful, we’ve never found any pest control company using it, but sometimes residents bring it from their home country for use in apartments,” he added, citing that there had been no case of death related to unlicenced pesticides in the emirate of Abu Dhabi since 2013.
“Our intention is not to spray and our last resort is spraying pesticide,” he said. “First we take preventive action, cleaning, awareness, physical control, and mechanical control then at last it comes to chemical controls,” he added.
Al Marzouqi concluded by saying that residents and building owners should have contracts with pest control companies and carry out regular inspections and treatment processes, rather than just employing them for one-off spraying sessions every once and a while.
