At first, the columns of thick black smoke that began to rise up over the sky of Fornaj neighborhood in southern Tripoli, in early July, were thought to be the result of an explosion. The smoke in fact came from tons of garbage being burned in protest of a nearby stadium being turned into a temporary dump.

At first, the columns of thick black smoke that began to rise up over the sky of Fornaj neighborhood in southern Tripoli, in early July, were thought to be the result of an explosion. The smoke in fact came from tons of garbage being burned in protest of a nearby stadium being turned into a temporary dump.

Suleiman Abani, a 29-year-old resident, says this is not the first time the stadium has been used as a dump. In response, residents formed a neighborhood watch to intercept garbage trucks trying to unload their rubbish inside the stadium. “While daytime watch has worked, some unload huge amounts of construction debris, landscaping residues and others kinds of trash at night,” says Abani.

PUC blamed

Those watching the fire put the blame the public utilities commission (PUC) and the municipal council for negligence. “We are tired of getting into trouble with people and cannot blame them for dumping garbage since they have no other alternative,” said Adel Zinati, 42, who appeared to be disturbed by the suffocating smoke. “Some of them understand our motives, while others show an aggressive reaction. Residents know that burning garbage is not a solution, but it is impossible to leave it there and tolerate its clouds.”

“My 73-year-old mother and my three children have asthma because our house is close to the garbage dumping space,” said Sabri Ghariyani, 39. “Despite the prescribed medication, their health condition improves or worsens depending on PUC’s commitment to garbage removal.”

Our job is only supervisory

The Souk Gomaa quarter suffers from the same problem—residents recently burned garbage on 20 Ramadan Street, a major commercial street in the quarter.

Head of the Local Municipal Council Jamaludin Shibini told Correspondents that his council’s mandate – authorized by the Ministry of Local Governance – was confined to supervising street cleanliness. Based on reports submitted by daily work teams, the areas where garbage is collected are monitored and the PUC is then addressed to take appropriate action.

In many cases, he says, PUC response was pitiful, due to a lack of resources, which prompted the council to appeal to philanthropists to protect inhabitants from imminent epidemics and health hazards because of the piled up garbage.

Temporary solutions

The response to the appeal was positive where a number of benefactors and generous businessmen offered sums of money to a local cleaning company to clean up 20 Ramadan Street in mid-July. Later on, however, garbage started to pile up in the area again.

“Judging by experience, the cleaning effort is pointless since sidewalks would be covered with trash in less than two hours,” says Omran Salem, the driver of a garbage truck owned by Africa Gate Company (AGC). “The problem is due to a lack of awareness among the public which fails to take out garbage during the fixed hours and their careless disposal. Some residents even discard garbage bags through their car windows in the middle of the road, heedless of any kind of manners.”

Replaced by green mint

AGC director Muftah Hilal says his company is ready to use a new fleet of garbage trucks on three regular shifts, in accordance with an AGC proposal submitted to the PUC. They, however, stopped supplying the agreed service because they did not receive their dues for over 14 months. The dues have now reached LYD 3.5 million (US $2.6 million).

 “How do they expect us to work while we have not been paid for the past three months?” asks Salem. “There are foreigners working with us and they have to pay the rent and send money back to their families at home. If we are paid our dues, we pledge to work day and night.”

Environmental threats

“Everyone has noticed the increased numbers of flies, mosquitoes and other kinds of insects in these neighborhoods,” says Dr. Mabrouk Krichan, head of the Environmental Sanitation Unit (ESU) of the Ministry of Housing and Utilities. “This calls for cleaning, fumigating and spraying garbage sites on a daily basis to prevent the spread of insects and rodents.”

Krichan believes that the piles of garbage now threaten humans, animals and plants in the city. The ESU, he says, has noticed that plants and trees in the area have been affected. He calls the traditional burning of garbage “uncivilized” because it increases human hazards.

Krichan blames the successive governments for failing to invest garbage, which “wastes large amounts of money on garbage burning or burying instead of establishing recycle plants that would greatly benefit the economy and create jobs for unemployed youth.”

Cash shortage

PUC director Bashir Akkouni argues that the problem is purely financial where the delayed disbursement of PUC’s budget made it impossible to pay workers’ wages and contracting companies’ fees. Some of these companies have stopped rendering their contractual services, causing much pressure to other companies.

Akkouni told Correspondents that the accumulating debts amount to over LYD 23 million (US $16.6), more than any other operating expenses. Despite delayed dues, seven companies still work, but they are unable to reduce the quantity of heaped garbage in Tripoli.

Akkouni maintains that the quantity of garbage needed to be removed on a daily basis by the PUC this year is as high as 2,700 tonnes compared to 1,200 tonnes in previous years. This increase is due to the population density in Tripoli, which has become a haven for refugees from various Libyan towns and villages.

Given the unstable security situation, roads leading to main garbage dumps outside Tripoli, like Sidi Elsayeh Dump (SED), are sometimes closed, leading to increased garbage heaps on streets.

“Most garbage dumps are closed,” says Saleh Ahmad, SED’s garbage removal supervisor. “The SED operates at full capacity and receives more than 200 truckloads every day during business hours between 9am and 6pm. The problem, however, can be resolved by operating the other temporary dumping sites like Tajura and Busleem.”