Metro

Tuesday July 10, 2012

What a load of rubbish

By CHERYL HEW
metroperak@thestar.com.my Photos by SAIFUL BAHRI


IPOH folks, while generally being conscious of the appearance and cleanliness of their homes, do not use garbage bins.

Worse still, they have a strange habit of piling up garbage in front of other people’s houses or hanging them on their fences or from tree branches on garbage collection days.

Taman Wah Keong resident Cheng Sau Lin told The Star that owning a rubbish bin is troublesome.

“I used to have a rubbish bin outside my house but they keep getting stolen. After countless times of losing my rubbish bin, I just don’t bother any more.

Dumpsite: An illegal rubbish dump near the Bercham market. It was previously reported that nearby residents throw their rubbish here on days when there is no collection.

“Even if the Ipoh City Council gives me one for free, I am not going to make use of it as it is too troublesome to have to protect it from thieves,” the 68-year-old said.

Cheng said she preferred to take her household waste to the community rubbish bin at the Kampung Simee market nearby.

“Many of my neighbours also do not own rubbish bins.

“They prefer hanging their bags of rubbish on trees or fences to prevent stray animals from rummaging through them and making a mess.

No rubbish bins: Ipoh folks rarely leave their rubbish in garbage bins for collection. They instead prefered to leave them in heaps outside their houses or hang them on trees to avoid stray animals from rummaging through them.

“Those who do have rubbish bins only take them out during collection days and take them in immediately after they are emptied out by the garbage collectors,” she added.

Taman Ria resident Angie Yit, 55, reasons that she does not own a rubbish bin as they often get damaged due to mishandling by garbage collectors.

“I have seen how they throw my neighbours’ bins on the road after they are done.

“They are not bothered if the bins are damaged or if the lids go missing.

“No doubt, the bins are not very expensive and helps to make rubbish collection neater while keeping stray animals away but I do not want to waste my money getting one just to have it damaged by uncaring garbage collectors,” she said.

The right way: Garbage collectors picking up rubbish that has been put into neat piles by a forerunner at Kampung Simee.

Another resident, who only wanted to be known as Chan, does not see a problem with having rubbish piled up by the side of the road.

“It is only for a short period of time until they are collected.

“It does make the job easier and faster for rubbish collectors,” she said.

Chan explained that the current practice was for a garbage collector to go on foot to each house to collect the rubbish in a big pile so that the garbage truck only has to stop at the particular spot.

“Hence, the garbage truck makes less stops along each road and there is less waste water that ends up on the roads and it does not stink so bad.

“Whether one has a rubbish bin or not, they still empty it and pile the rubbish by the road before the garbage truck arrives,” she said.

Datuk Bandar Datuk Roshidi Hashim said the practice of piling up rubbish and hanging them up would bring embarrassment to the city.

“What is the impression visitors get if they pass by and see all these piles of rubbish on the road and hanging from anything?

“I hope the public will make it a point to use rubbish bins as required of them.

“The council does not want to book them for not doing so and as such, we hope they will work with us to ensure that Ipoh remains a clean city,” he said.

Roshidi, however, declined to comment when asked if action would be taken against sub-contractors engaged to collect rubbish for piling up rubbish in a heap prior to collecting them.

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