by Josiane-Stella Filla, Congo, January 1997
THEME = ECOLOGY
There's only one refuse disposal service for the whole of Brazzaville, but hope is in sight because a new rubbish collection Association has come on the scene to serve the city's needs. It's already at work, but although things look promising, it's still insufficient to keep Brazzaville clean
Brazzaville, with its 900,000 population, is like many other big
cities of Africa, (Lagos, Douala, Kinshasa...), having very
serious hygiene problems, mainly because of the lack of proper
refuse dumping areas. Even in the snob areas of the city or
around "OCH buildings"(*), one can see huge piles of
odorous rubbish, polluting the city!
To put an end to this problem, the Association For Sorting
Out and Recycling Waste Material in Brazzaville (AVOBRA) came
into being. This Association collects, sorts out and recycles
waste material. About 25% of household waste is transformed into
compost for market gardens around Brazzaville. The rest is
deposited far away from the city!
The project was initiated by the Congo's Chamber of Commerce
and is financed by the European Union to the tune of about 865
million CFA francs. It is managed by the Finance and Public Works
Department, in cooperation with: The Ministry of
Decentralisation; AgriCongo - a research centre for
agricultural development in the tropical zones; the Brazzaville
City Council; the Office of Control and Prevention!
The city's mayor launched the project on 31 October 1996, at
the "Hugos" Football Ground in the Bacongo area, where
the first site for storing waste household is situated. Among the
guests of honour were the Minister of Tourism and Environment,
the head of the European Union delegation, and the ambassadors
of France and Germany. Also present were the mayors of the seven
district of the city. One can't help noting that the problem of
cleaning up the Congo's cities, seems to be dependent on help
from the Congo's overseas partners!
Before tackling the whole city, AVOBRA decided to take as
experimental areas, Talangai and Ouenzé, to the north of
Brazzaville, and Bacongo, Makélékélé
and Mfilou to the south. About 15 storage sites were set up
throughout the city. Each site is about 400-600 sq.m. in area,
with a covered section at each site, capable of sheltering 10
refuse containers. There's also a cement discharging platform
enclosure at each site, equipped with a hydraulic shovel.
Collecting rubbish obviously costs money, and the people are
asked to contribute about 800 CFA francs per month; i.e. 200 FCA
francs for a twice-weekly collection. Under AVOBRA's general
supervision, local associations look after the running of the
rubbish tips. But Brazzaville's population know that AVOBRA will
not be able to provide a complete solution to the city's waste
disposal problem.
NOTA - (*) The Congo's Housing Bureau built houses and apartments for senior officials in some areas of Brazzaville. These buildings are known as "OCH buildings".
END