Buea Waste Management Dilemma, Is Council Indifferent?

Waste management has remained a bitter nightmare to Buea inhabitants since the waste management company, Cameroon Hygiene and Sanitation Company (HYSACAM) retreated following attacks by unidentified gunmen a few weeks ago.

The hitherto clean city, now greets inhabitants and visitors with heaps of refuse and awful smells. In a bid to salvage this plight, individuals have resorted to waste burning. Though this waste management system aids in reducing volume of waste, it releases toxic pollutants including carbon dioxide which is instrumental in propagating climate change.

Most landlords in Buea have further compounded the situation by planting notices prohibiting the dumping of wastes were they were hitherto kept for HYSACAM to collect and dispose. This has placed many in a complete state of topsy turvy.

Speaking during a twin Council Session, December 18, 2018, the Mayor of Buea, Patrick Ekema, said the Council is leaving no stone unturned to ameliorate the waste management dilemma of the town.

“We have been holding meetings with HYSACAM management in Buea on this situation. Two weeks back, I had an insightful meeting with the General Manager of Hysaccam in Douala, and we are optimistic that the GM of HYSACAM will provide us with waste management equipment. So we hope that the festive period will not meet us in the heaps of rubbish here and there in the city,” Mayor Ekema divulged.

HYSACAM, it should be noted, took up waste management in the Southwest Regional Capital of Buea in 2010. The waste management company stepped in at a time when the collection and disposal of household waste by the Council had become onerous owing to the ever growing population.  With the company’s technical leave, the Council and environmental management stakeholders, now have the daunting task of fine-tuning alternative waste management strategies for the Municipality.

B. Shancho Ndimuh