Trash bags that were piling up around Arei Ksat have been moved to a temporary location amid publicity, but residents must continue to deal with their own garbage at least until a meeting with local government is held on Friday, the collection company said.
Residents and officials living around Phnom Penh’s canals say trash is quickly returning to waterways amid heavy rains, with at least one commune chief candidate promising to scrub the stench from garbage-clogged canals in his campaign.
Workers waded through Russei Keo’s trash-clogged Bak Touk Keo canal Wednesday morning as the district began a cleanup. It’s the third district seen to be cleaning up sewage systems since environmentalists petitioned officials earlier this month over trash pollution in the city.
Meanchey and Chamkarmon districts have started cleaning sewage systems last week, days after environmental activists identified seven locations in three districts where trash had clogged these canals.
Environmental activists have asked authorities in three Phnom Penh districts to clean up garbage accumulated in the city’s canals and sewage system.
Nine of the 10 trucks that enter one Takeo village daily are still dumping trash in a 1 hectare field, despite a deal struck earlier this month between the district and company to first incinerate everything in a furnace, residents said.
Dozens of villagers blocked a road to stop a trash company from bringing its trucks to a 1-hectare field near the village, which has been overflowing with bags of unprocessed, unburned garbage.
A volunteer group has been working for the last two months to clean up the riverbank in Chroy Changva district, while also trying to change people’s behaviors when it comes to trash disposal.
Two trash collectors have died and another seriously injured in a traffic incident as workers and family spoke of Phnom Penh’s new waste management companies putting them on unfamiliar shifts, not providing equipment and lacking union representation.
Following years of complaints about poor service, Cintri was put under state management in 2019, and as of July its work split up among three companies. Promises to keep all employees on the payroll were broken when 1,176 workers were terminated as of July 1.
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