Distribution of 1905 household containers and underground containers will be activated soon
Muscat Municipality: 474 Tons of waste per month resulted from Direct Transport System applied on Boushar and Seeb Neighborhoods
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The system reduced the spread of indiscriminate wastes, and insects and improved the urban environment and the general appearance
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The system will cover a number of other areas in the city.
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A Plan to recycle wastes and turn it into an economic resource.
By: Ibrahim Al Hosni
Department of Health at Muscat Municipality confirmed that the amount of waste resulting from the direct transport system collected from homes in
residential neighborhoods at Seeb and Bousher provinces, which implemented the system about15.60 Tons per day, and total 474 tons per month, and the number
of containers distributed to these neighborhoods 1905 container, provided the implementation of the system shall expand to cover several other areas of the
governorate of Muscat in the coming period. The Municipality will implement municipality the new underground containers project soon in commercial areas
such as Roy, Al Qarm, and number of sites nearby the beaches.
The Department of Health pointed to the success of the system of wastes direct transport which was launched early last year in cooperation with the
Directorate General of Muscat Municipality in Al Seeb and the Directorate General of Muscat Municipality in Bousher under the slogan of Clean Muscat (all
of us .... all For us) that is based on the transfer of waste from
homes directly to the waste collection vehicles and then disposed of in allocated rooms.
This system has been adopted after achieving success on areas of experimentation, at: Al Uthaiba (Sixth Phase) in Bousher Province, Southern Mawaleh region
(behind City Center Mall), and parts of social houses in Al Khawd in Al Seeb Province, the team works withdrawn all waste containers distributed in the
squares and public places in these areas in order to implement the system and improve the general appearance, and provide waste containers for each home.
The system based on implementation of daily direct transport direct in front of the houses and the allocation of special containers for every building, as
a step to develop methods of waste collection and preservation of public health and the aesthetic view of the city.
A number of 1148 home containers were distributed at Al Seeb province and 757 home containers at Bousher province. The quantity of wastes produced At Al
Seeb during the day equals 9.30 tons per day, total of 285 tons per month, and the amount of wastes produced at Bousher during the day equals 6.30 tons per
day, and total 189 tons per month.
The future plan is to develop implementation of this system based on the separation of waste at source to sort these materials for reuse or recycling, n
order to implement the system of re-use (recycling) and converting waste-to-economic resource through companies specialized in this field.
Tangible Results
this system resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of waste, and the program achieved removal of wastes collection containers from the targeted
areas, reduced the spread of insects and rodents in the region, reduced the spread of diseases caused by insects and rodents, and refrain from throwing
consumable and solid wastes in public squares and around the containers due to the allocation of sites for collection and transfer from the source (home).
The direct follow-up with officials on implementation of the program that the most important advantages and results the program is the limitation to spread
of solid waste and waste of trees, reduced spread of insects and rodents due to lack of an environment to multiply, and improvement of the overall
appearance of the area by disappearance of wastes and lack of unpleasant odors.
Awareness Role
It appeared that the most important reasons for the success of this system is the role of the offices of awareness and guidance in the directorates that is
to deliver the message to the residents of the territories, organize a program of visits to homes in the targeted areas to familiarize them with the direct
transport system and make them aware of its importance, objectives and expected outcomes, distribution of printed publications in both Arabic and English,
and illustrate to the inhabitants their roles and how to contribute to the success of this program and its importance to the surrounding environment due to
the significance of these steps in the continuity and development of specific stages for the same and the future ideas.
Container Features
The container is made of plastic with a capacity of 120 liters sealing leaks and a protective cover to prevent the spread of unpleasant odors, and there
are wheels to facilitate the transfer process, and it is lined with green color.
Transfer Program
The garbage trucks pass through neighborhoods that implemented the program every day at seven AM to transfer of household waste from each house separately,
in agreement with the owners of these homes to bring the containers out before seven AM for the purpose of emptying them by the ad hoc Group on the
transfer of household waste, which reduces the duration of the waste in containers, this in turn reduces the spread of insects and smells that are often
troublesome for individuals. Municipality vehicles go by on houses and off-load the containers and put it back in front of the house.
Containers Numbering
the distributed containers has been numbered so that the number of container is the same so the house number in addition to presence of a serial number
shows the number of containers that are provided for each home in order to facilitate the procedures of wastes transfer from these containers in addition
to facilitation of follow-up responsive and non-compliant homes with the form of container delivery bilingual (Arabic and English) that explains full
address, telephone number and signature of the recipient that is in duplicate and it is delivered to the citizen and the other is for the municipality
records in order to know houses that have been handed over the containers.
Transfer of Solid Wastes
the municipality determined Saturday and Tuesday of each week to transfer other solid wastes and bulky (such as the remnants of appliances and furniture,
tree trunks, etc.) and in this regard, the municipality hopes to attain cooperation of all to remove solid waste from homes, one day before the deadline
and place them in designated sites in the neighborhood in an organized way, to transfer it by the municipality vehicles in the next morning and thus
elevate neighborhood cleanliness, seven days a week.
Praise
Regard this experiment we surveyed the views of beneficiaries where Sami bin Rashid Al Tawqi one of inhabitants who benefited from the experience with the
system, praised the experience and expressed his satisfaction with the allocation of container per household because of its positive results that are
reflected on residential neighborhoods and maintain the surrounding environment of pollutants and odors, and Mohammed bin Abdullah Alandabi had the same
opinion and confirmed the success of this step, and thanked concerned officials in Muscat Municipality for their efforts concerned in urban environment of
the city and interest with Health Affairs sector and the areas of wastes transfer, where this system created this system easiness in to deal with the waste
directly and quickly and without suffering and he suggested to increase the number of containers or provide larger ones.
Tahera bint Suleiman Baluchi explained that this experience is useful to the surrounding environment where it limit the spread of odors left because of the
public waste collection points and maintains the view interfaces in residential areas of visual pollutants and keep the beauty of the general appearance as
well as relieve homeowners of fuss and effort exerted to the transfer of waste to distant places and in different circumstances where this system works on
saying effort and overcome suffering and easy to beneficiaries to leave the container in front of the house. She suggests generalizing this system to other
new schemes in Almalbiah and Aimrat, and asks the concerned bodies to pay attention with extension of necessary services and ways of lighting and roads for
these schemes.
Khaled Al-Hilali one of residents in Muscat also praised this experience, which is successful and reduces a lot of environmental problems and pollution in
the city.
