Image 9.2.1 Throwing Rubbish out of the Bin (Photo by Fidelia Beatrice)

The second issue is the inefficiency of the Temporary Waste Storage. I went to one of it, and I saw a ragpicker picking through the trash to find things she can sell, such as cardboard or cans. However, she did the most peculiar thing. She took a plastic bag of rubbish and throw it right over the yellow wall! And I was confused beyond compare. Why is she throwing rubbish OUT of rubbish bin? It is insane. Not only do the people do not throw rubbish into the rubbish bin, they throw the ones that are inside the rubbish bin out of it! And so, I went up to her and politely asked her why she did so. She explained that if the collection point gets too full, the rubbish tend to overflow to the road, and even if the rubbish collector truck comes, they will also empty out some by throwing it over the wall because it can be too heavy. Out of curiosity, I tried to find an opening on the wall to see what is behind this wall, and as expected, they are piles of rubbish thrown over since I don’t know how long.

As the timing of clearing these TPS and the TPS provided are limited, while the rate of garbage accumulation increases (due to increasing population and increase in wealth), overflowing of garbage in public areas is inevitable. This is seen from the TPS in the market place. Many locals who visit the market place will bring along their household waste in the morning to dump it before proceeding with their various purchases. As a result, the yellow containers either get too heavy to be managed or the rubbish overflows and falls to its surroundings. Ragpickers and also the waste management workers thus try to manage this by throwing it to the sea or where people don’t see it, such as behind the wall.