Male’ City Council has recognized that gathering garbage on the streets of Male’ City and dumping it in front of the Waste Management Corporation Limited (WAMCO) waste collection facility was caused by a “misunderstanding” and was an uncivilized behavior.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, WAMCO has stopped visiting households to collect trash. During the last year, WAMCO has been collecting garbage after households bring their waste to the streets for collection.
However, when the city council prohibited bringing garbage to the streets, WAMCO was scheduled to begin visiting houses to collect waste yesterday and declared that it would no longer collect waste on the streets.
Even after the announcement, some households put their rubbish on the streets, which WAMCO did not collect. In addition, WAMCO did not visit certain residences to collect waste, which was then put on the streets.
The city council dispatched a huge dumper truck to collect the garbage left on the streets, and the truck dumped it in front of WAMCO’s waste collection facility about 10:00 a.m. today.
Following that, Deputy Mayor Ahmed Nareesh apologized for the action taken by the council in a press conference, calling it “uncivilized conduct.”
Miscommunications between the truck driver and the on-site supervisor, according to Nareesh, triggered the incident.
He also claimed that an inquiry into the incident has begun, and that the council has already begun removing the dumped garbage with their vehicles entering WAMCO’s waste collecting facility.
In addition, Nareesh stated that the city council has been paying WAMCO MVR 3.1 million per month for garbage pickup, which he believes should be enough incentive for WAMCO to collect waste left on the streets.
