Published since 07.2002
Published on April 25, 2008
TAKING OUT THE TRASH: MEGHRI GETS CLEANUP THANKS TO EQUIPMENT AND INITIATIVE
- For years the issue of community cleanness and garbage collection has been of great concern in Meghri, as throughout Armenia. But in Armenia’s southernmost city recently the situation has changed considerably. Now you won’t come across piles of litter on every step like before. The changes in Meghri’s looks are due to United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on the one hand, and to Vanik Karamyan, on the other. Karamyan took over as head of the public utilities service adjunct to Meghri’s municipality last year. Karamyan, 53, is a builder by profession says that when he took up the public utilities service, the town was in terrible state. “Until now I am disposing litter that has been accumulating since 2000 in different areas of the town. There have been such piles that we haven’t managed to get rid of yet,” he says. Besides garbage disposal, streets are swept twice a week, and in the center every day. The service is also cleaning the water canals. This is also a major issue in Meghri, because irrigation water often doesn’t reach orchards because of the canals being clogged. Since June 2007, UNDP has been realizing garbage collection project in Meghri. The municipality has made a business proposal and UNDP agreed to make a 20 percent investment. (the program costs over $120,000) As a part of the project the Service has one refuse collector, a tractor and a bulldozer. The map of the town has been drawn, and 40 Dumpsters have been placed in the districts, 40 ashtray/litter bins have been placed next to shops, offices, public places. “Before placing the dumpsters, people used to bring their refuse and leave in the streets choosing the place randomly. It’d accumulate for days or even months and was left like that,” recalls Karamayn. The gold mining company of Meghri donated a second garbage truck. The first one has hydraulic lift, the second one has a special place on the back where people can throw refuse directly into it. The truck has a schedule making a route through streets with no dumpsters, passing by busy spots, shopping centers; people know the time and take out their garbage correspondingly. The trash truck moves around the town all day long, whereas the dumpsters are emptied once a day. Now moving around the city by noon already you won’t see a full bin with garbage around it, and the truck works at this or that district of the town. “Today this is a priority. When you do other things, it might not be noticeable, but this one is,” says Karamyan. The Service is financed from the community budget. They have started to normalize the collections of utility payments from residents. This year 12 million AMD ($38,000) has been allocated to public utility service from the town budget. They have defined utility payment of 100 drams (about 30 cents) per person (monthly) agreements are being signed with everybody. Corporations have a different payment structure. So far we have been able to collect only 50-60 percent of payments. Having seen the work of this whole year people pay, multi-apartment dwellings definitely pay. Private houses are more problematic,” says Karamyan. “They say ‘we take it by car and throw it down the gorge or dig a whole in the garden and bury it’, and don’t pay.” And that system is bad for the environment. “We have to get to a point when they let us collect garbage and pay,” Karamyan says. Despite the obvious changes in Meghri residents’ behavior, Karamyan says that within a year he will definitely teach them to keep the town absolutely clean. “When we are done with the last dump piles of the town and place dumpsters everywhere, we will start applying severe penalties. You have to create conditions, then only you can start punishing,” he says. Penalties are defined: for throwing the garbage near instead of inside the dumpster the fine is 1,000 dram ($3.30) for the first time, the second time it’ll be 5,000, ($16) the third time-10,000. For leaving garbage in inappropriate places the fine will be equal to 5,000 AMD for the first time, 10,000 for the second, and so on up to 20,000. ($64) The order has been developed recently; no one has been fined so far. Karamyan has even bought a video camera in order to watch areas around main shops from his apartment. He says that he sits in his balcony and records so that when reproaching a shop owner he’d have a proof in case the owner says he hasn’t littered the area. He tells that there have been cases when he saw someone leaving their garbage at an inappropriate place, and he himself picked it and took it to a dumpster out of shame and fear that others could see it and dump nearby. The previous conduct of shops has been changed too: they used to dump their refuse into the river. “Or now they come, clean the area in front of the shop and then start working: that has never happened before. We work and they see that it’s clean, it shouldn’t be littered.” Garbage collection from blocks of flats still remains a harsh issue. There garbage accumulates inside the pipes of buildings. And although it is cleaned every other day, we don’t let it accumulate, it still stinks especially in summer. “We are trying to find a way to get more dumpsters and place them in that district. Pipes will be closed; residents agree to that,” says Karamyan. A new dump is being built with UNDP support 4 kilometers away from the town: There is one now 2.5 kilometers off the town, but that’s simply a gorge where refuse is emptied and covered. The new one is being built by a special design and in accordance with technological standards.
- Armine Avagyan
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© AUA
Today in Armenian history- 1828 Griboedov is appointed Russian ambassador in Persia.
- 1888 Death of novelist Raffi (Hakob Melik-Hakobyan) in Tbilissi (Georgia). He was born in 1835.
- 1918 The Turkish army re-occupies Ghars (Western Armenia).
- 1918 Stepan Shahoomyan creates and leads the Council of People's Commissars in Baku.
- 1959 Death of painter Hakob Kodjoyan. He was born in 1883.
- 1990 The Greek Parliament approves a law designating April 24 as Remembrance Day of the Armenian victims of the Genocide perpetrated by Turkey.
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