Piles of rubbish leaves Nasinu residents concerned about collection delays

Piles of uncollected garbage, green waste and white goods in neighborhoods across Nasinu have become a magnet for trash and residents are now angry about the delays in collection by the Nasinu Town Council.

We saw dozens of piles of uncollected garbage, green waste and white goods when we visited areas in Caubati, Kinoya, Valelevu, Narere, Makoi, Tovata, Nepani, Nadera, and Nadawa.

One of the worst affected areas is Narere where big piles of rubbish can be seen along Sangam Road while in Ibo Place in Nadawa some piles of rubbish are so big it is blocking half the road and causing vehicles to slow down with drivers trying to navigate their way through.

The piles of rubbish accumulated following the weekend of April 26th which was Fiji's Weekend of Readiness and Responsibility as declared by the Prime Minister to help the Leptospirosis, Typhoid, Dengue and Diarrhoea Campaign.

[A big pile of rubbish blocks part of the road along Ibo Place in Nadawa - 04/05/2020]

During April 25th and 26th, most of these residents in Nasinu cleaned up their compounds and removed debris but all the garbage gathered during their clean up has not been collected since.

In response to questions by Fijivillage, the Special Administrator of Nasinu and Nausori Town Council Baskaran Nair says due to the significant volume of waste being generated from the current clean up, it will take the Council a total of 2 to 3 weeks to clear all the waste to the Naboro Landfill.

He says the Nasinu Town Council commenced the collection of green waste covering the main Ratu Dovi Road and Kings Road last week.

Nair says the current clean up plan for the whole of the seven wards in Nasinu is currently being revised and they are seeking assistance from stakeholders to expedite the collections within a maximum two weeks timeframe.

The Special Administrator says Nasinu with more than 11,000 rate payers and approximately 92,000 residents inclusive of informal settlements is a challenge in terms of the indiscriminate dumping of mixed green and white waste on the roadsides.

Nair says some of these wastes were dumped prior to the current clean up program.

He says some of the residents are not complying to the awareness programs and waste collection schedules.

Nair says given the current limited resources, he is requesting residents of Nasinu to bear with the current clean up which target to clear all accumulated wastes on the roadside within a 2 weeks timeframe.

He adds residents are also encouraged to place their wastes responsibly to prevent hindrance to pedestrians and traffic.