Torit Municipal Council has on Sunday launched a general garbage collection exercise in Torit town of Eastern Equatoria State.
This comes as some residents complained of unnecessary waste disposal by some traders proximal to residential areas.
The residents claimed that the municipal authority has not been collecting waste for the last two years. This, they said, has resulted in environmental hazards.
Ramsey Omoo, administrator of Torit Municipal Council said the general collection of waste along dumping sites is an exercise aimed at keeping Torit town clean.
He admits that his authority has not been able to collect wastes from residential areas due to a lack of machines for collecting and carrying waste.
“As you have seen this dumping place has taken one to three years according to the complaints from residents of Hai Korton and traders selling in the main market. This market has taken like two years dirty along the road going to Kinieti,” he said.
“I have seen there is nothing that can solve this except we come and give some small services. As you have seen now, we are collecting all this waste out of the town and burning them outside there, we shall dig a big dumping site and burn them there and we shall warn people not to dispose of waste again here,” Omoo added.
Regina Gasmiro Otulla, a resident of Hai Korton Torit town applauded Torit Municipal Council for ensuring waste products are collected and dumped in a right place.
She explained that most roads linking residents with the market are filled with waste accusing traders of negligence.
“I thank the mayor and his team because the wastes which are always disposed to us here, we are not happy because there are a lot of problems here, someone will bring rubbish from the shop and other places, people are sent to dispose their rubbish to us here,” she protested.
“To us here there is a door if someone sees to cross since there is another market ahead there, if you want to reach that market, you will get all faeces and even if a big person wanted to go by the car he cannot go, all these roads are filled with rubbish but now we are really happy,” Regina said.
Roseline Andrew Oromo another resident of Torit town said they have been facing the challenge of unnecessary rubbish disposal since 2019 due to a lack of an official and proper dumpsite.
“They started dumping the rubbish here ever since this residential area was demolished. We always tried our best to burn this rubbish but still, these people at the market will come and dump so it has really caused a lot of problems to me because you will tell a person to go and dump ahead but they end up dumping near you and when you intervene saying these waste is not good here they always ask ‘where do you expect me to go and dump them?’
“Of recent, one came with a child defecating near our gate and when we tried to talk she fought us. For sure this waste is not good and we are not happy with the presence of this waste here because it causes sickness to us. When it rains all this waste goes to the river and it’s this same river we are drinking and that’s why we always complain of Malaria and typhoid,” Andrew said.
“We should respect our places, Torit is our home, let’s keep Torit clean. Waste should not be dumped near residential areas, we should dispose of waste far away, if there is a means maybe there is a need to dig a hole for this waste to be disposed of and burned,” she added.
