Overflowing dumpsters continue to plague Abu Dhabi streets and residents

Downtown areas of the city such as Elektra Street, Al Zahiyah, Al Falah, Fatima bint Mubarak, Khalifa, Madinat Zayed and Defence roads are badly affected, with residents complaining about the smell and unsightly scene outside their apartment blocks each day.

Areas of Abu Dhabi have had longstanding problems with overflowing rubbish dumpsters, such as these off Hamdan Street. Delores Johnson / The National / on April 23, 2017

ABU DHABI // The long-running problem of overflowing rubbish dumpsters blocking roads and making a stink has still yet to be resolved in parts of the capital.

Downtown areas of the city – such as Elektra Street, Al Zahiyah, Al Falah, Fatima bint Mubarak, Khalifa, Madinat Zayed and Defence roads – are badly affected.

Residents have complained about the daily stench and unsightly scene outside their apartment blocks.

Despite stories highlighting the issue in this newspaper, the Centre of Waste Management (Tadweer) has yet to develop an alternative collection system.

It blames the building watchmen who place the dumpsters on the streets, even though no fines have been levied against them for supposed wrongdoing.

Ataullah Rajab, an Egyptian resident of Elektra Street, said it was a daily problem that residents could do nothing about.

“If authorities take strict action then this could be resolved, otherwise it will continue like that,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to pass by them [the dumpsters] because of the extremely foul smell.”

Dumpsters were often left on the streets for hours before they were collected, said Mr Rajab.

Bangladeshi resident Hamdan Alam agreed that waste left to rot for hours was a problem.

“Watchmen that place them [the dumpsters] on the streets should be dealt with and fined for leaving them in the open for hours,” he said. “It’s a serious health issue and it must be immediately addressed.” Tadweer said commercial and residential buildings should get watchmen to place their dumpsters properly, away from road corridors.

“The people who are responsible for this usually cooperate with Tadweer for a certain period of time, especially during or after an awareness campaign,” said Tadweer.

“We are working with our strategic government partners to prevent these negative behaviours and to ensure getting the bins out only during waste collection times.”

However, watchmen said they had no choice but to take the dumpsters out when they were full and ready for collection.

“When it’s overflowing we have to bring it out and place it here. If we don’t do that it will be difficult for us to collect the scattered waste on the floor, which is dropped from waste chutes,” said Shuheil, a watchman in Al Zahiyah.

Besides the health threat they pose, dumpsters can also obstruct roads and block drivers’ vision, which can lead to accidents.

Indian expatriate Yahya Sheikh, who was leaving a car park off Fatima bint Mubarak Street, said the dumpsters could be hazardous to drivers.

“Always these bins are placed on the road and block the view. We can’t see vehicles coming from either direction,” he said. “We see them when half of our car is on the street, it’s dangerous.”

The area of Khalidiyah, however, does not have this problem because it has an underground waste collection system that is well-run. Tadweer did not say whether it would consider instituting a similar system across the city. But it said it was preparing an awareness campaign for watchmen.