We Will Have to Live in a Rubbish Dump Until Dustmen’s Salaries are Increased

We Will Have to Live in a Rubbish Dump Until Dustmen’s Salaries are Increased

The amount of rubbish in the parks and streets of Tbilisi is increasing. In addition to the horrible smell, the rubbish and the dust, the capital faces a real danger – an outbreak of infectious diseases. In the summer, when the number of rodents increases in the city, the danger becomes more prevalent. Instead of cleaning the streets of rubbish, the State Municipal Supervision Service of the City Administration just burns it, which only worsens the situation. The problem is the smoke from the burning rubbish is dangerous for human health and may cause various ailments.

The State Municipal Supervision Service averts the blame, claiming that it is the population that burns rubbish in the street. The population, in turn, point to the dustmen who burn the rubbish every morning. “We live in the Temka district. I have seen several times how the dustmen set fire to the rubbish. The rubbish burns slowly for the whole day and produces a horrible smell. We cannot open a window to let in fresh air in because of the awful smell and smoke. We cannot use our own balconies either to dry laundry due to the dreadful stench. We have asked the district administration to solve our problems; but no one pays any attention to us. They only say that it is not them who burn the rubbish”, state the population.

However, it is interesting what the State Municipal Supervision Service said about a photo which clearly shows the dustmen setting fire to the easily burnt rubbish, after cleaning other types of litter from it. This took place on Nadzaladevi and I managed to photograph it.

Another problem is that there is no rubbish recycling factory in Georgia and the rubbish gathered from the capital is left in the Gldani rubbish dump - where all of it is burned. Because of this, the small village of Gldanula, which is not far from the dump is covered with smoke. Furthermore, one can see cattle ‘grazing’ on the rubbish. Although the population complains, they continuously experience the same problems.

“In addition to the Global Warming problem that the burning of the rubbish affects, it also produces poisonous substances and negatively impacts on human health”, says Paata Imnadze.

The State Municipal Supervision Service of the City Administration of Tbilisi does not dispute the existence of the problem but states that the problem is caused by a lack of funds. The head of the service – Koba Subeliani told us that private firms are responsible for clearing the city of rubbish, thus the problems are created by them. “The problem is very common.  I represent the organisation which pays for the service. We do not carry out the service ourselves”, states Koba Subeliani.

We became interested to see if the organisation monitored the implementation of the rubbish removal service the government pays for. We were told however that they monitor only the tarmac reconstruction in the city. Koba Subeliani also added that he was strongly against the rubbish burning. “I am against the burning of rubbish in the streets and sufficiently respond to incidents of it, if I am informed about them. I ask the population to call us on the hotline and inform about rubbish burning in the streets. My staff consists of 10 people who work really hard to find out any violations, but they are not guards to watch over every block of flat. We pay 7 laris for cleaning up 1 square mile”, states Subeliani. However, the calls and complaints on the hotline remain unanswered.  Although the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center has already covered the issue (see: http://www.humanrights.ge/stat254.shtml ), the State Municipal Supervision Service of the City Administration of Tbilisi has not adopted any measures to solve the problems that the population experiences. In addition, no one has yet been punished for any violations.  

Despite the fact that burning rubbish is banned in the city, one can see it taking place everywhere. The dustmen say that they are not paid to do their job and thus do whatever they want. Because of the low salary that the dustmen have, they do not feel they have any responsibility. Karlo Chotiridze, head of the Cleaning Services states: “We are loyal to the dustmen. They are paid only 87 laris per month and we cannot force them to fulfill their duties honestly. What is more, it is difficult to find a person who will agree to work the job for such a small amount of money.

Chotidize sees the solution to the problem in increasing the salaries to 4000 – 500 laris for dustmen. Meanwhile, the population will have to breathe in the smoke of burning rubbish. In regards to the rubbish dumps, Subeliani said that Georgia cannot afford to build a rubbish recycling factory that costs 300 million laris, thus the only way out, he believes, is an investor. An investor has yet to appear.

Eka Gulua