By Kuch Naren
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
First there were lights, then there were people, and now mere is trash. The three-day Water Festival, which ended Monday, left over 500 tons of rubbish in its wake, about 20 percent more than last year, said Seng Chamroeun, deputy director of Cintri (Cambodia) Co Ltd.
Armies of garbage haulers have been working through the night to deal with the refuse. During the festival, more than 500 municipal workers began picking up trash in city parks at 11:30 pm each night, said Sam Samuth, chief of Phnom Penh's municipal park office. Cintri, the private company responsible for waste collection in Phnom Penh, added 360 temporary workers to its staff of 950 during the festival, which it deployed along the riverside area, night and day, Seng Chamroeun said.
A municipal order that vendors shut down at midnight and collect their trash in plastic bags helped keep things orderly, Seng Chamroeun said, but litterbugs still prevailed.
"We are working hard," said a 28-year-old Cintri employee who gave his name as Taingthim, who was busily collecting waste at Hun Sen park on Tuesday. Despite the 420 trash bins Cintri set up along the city's streets, he said, "Many people continued throwing waste, especially plastic bags, on the streets."
On the positive side, only 20 percent of the flowers in central Phnom Penh's parks need to be replanted, a stark improvement over last year's festival when the rains and the muddy march of feet "critically damaged" the city's grasses and flowers, Sam Samuth said.
Fewer people used the parks as toilets this year, he added. "Although we cannot stop them from urinating and defecating in the parks, we noticed there are less people having this bad attitude,'' he said.
Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema said that in the wake of the festival, al his staff will have to chip in during the clean up effort
"I will lead all City Hal employees and Phnom Penh's high school students to take part in a movement to clean the waste," he said.
To those Phnom Penh residents with "bad attitudes" whose wayward trash still mars the city, he said: "Witness our movement."
Armies of garbage haulers have been working through the night to deal with the refuse. During the festival, more than 500 municipal workers began picking up trash in city parks at 11:30 pm each night, said Sam Samuth, chief of Phnom Penh's municipal park office. Cintri, the private company responsible for waste collection in Phnom Penh, added 360 temporary workers to its staff of 950 during the festival, which it deployed along the riverside area, night and day, Seng Chamroeun said.
A municipal order that vendors shut down at midnight and collect their trash in plastic bags helped keep things orderly, Seng Chamroeun said, but litterbugs still prevailed.
"We are working hard," said a 28-year-old Cintri employee who gave his name as Taingthim, who was busily collecting waste at Hun Sen park on Tuesday. Despite the 420 trash bins Cintri set up along the city's streets, he said, "Many people continued throwing waste, especially plastic bags, on the streets."
On the positive side, only 20 percent of the flowers in central Phnom Penh's parks need to be replanted, a stark improvement over last year's festival when the rains and the muddy march of feet "critically damaged" the city's grasses and flowers, Sam Samuth said.
Fewer people used the parks as toilets this year, he added. "Although we cannot stop them from urinating and defecating in the parks, we noticed there are less people having this bad attitude,'' he said.
Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema said that in the wake of the festival, al his staff will have to chip in during the clean up effort
"I will lead all City Hal employees and Phnom Penh's high school students to take part in a movement to clean the waste," he said.
To those Phnom Penh residents with "bad attitudes" whose wayward trash still mars the city, he said: "Witness our movement."
2 comments:
And, it is good to see there is some people's movement to clean up.
SiS
Having someone to clean it up is great!, but did we hear the word clean as we go or organize as we go?
A clean up crew should be on a look out all the time. Rule and regulation should be set to stop free littering. This is Phnom Penh in 2006. We ought to know how to notice trash and the disorganize person or people better than we used to be. Why not? Is it because we are used to trash and rought place? and it deosn't really matter?
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