As you can see from the picture above, the garbage situation in the sand pit behind my house still hasn’t been sorted (it’s been years of me complaining). I’m not sure why it’s so difficult to just add more bins.
But the reason I’m posting about this today is because I wanted to see if you guys could spot something. The picture below was taken this morning after the garbage trucks came. Notice anything?
Yeah the garbage trucks cleaned the garbage on the ground but didn’t empty the trash bins. Back in August I posted a timelapse of the garbage being cleaned up and the trucks were leaving one of the bins full while emptying the other three. Turned out that one of the bins belonged to the previous company that had the garbage contract and the new company, not to cause an issue with the previous company was leaving their garbage bins alone. Really stupid shit but now I have no idea whats going on because all four bins aren’t being emptied and the already terrible garbage situation has become worse.
I just want them to add more bins, clearly the bins in the area aren’t enough since I’ve been talking about this issue for years now. I don’t know, am I asking for too much here?
And for those of you who are going to argue back by bringing Lebanon into this, yes yes Lebanon is a big garbage dump, I know that. But, I think of Kuwait more highly and would rather compare it to the likes of Calagary, Canada’s oil capital instead of Lebanon.
32 replies on “Update on the Salmiya Garbage Situation”
Kuwait is no Calgary
yeah but I always like to aim high not low. How else do you get better?
I agree on the aim high. I wish there was more of that here. Seems like the general ambition level is to be “shitty but not too shitty”
Kuwait is an amazing place with huge resources. It could be the best in class in many categories if it wanted to.
I think on this situation you may have to fault the worker and not the company. Why can’t the workers show enough motivation to do a proper job? (although I am surprised they picked up the garbage on the ground and left the containers full. I would have guessed they would do it the other way around)
Maybe their truck was full? If so, they should come back and empty the containers as soon as possible or they will be back to picking shit up off the ground.
Well my issue is why aren’t they adding more bins? The current bins are clearly not enough.
I am pretty sure that the problem would be solved if everyday they emptied the bins.
Now before you say that thats incorrect, ask yourself this question: have you ever seen the bins emptied in a daily basis? If so what was the result?
after hearing about this issue from you I really doubt those bins were really emptied out in the past couple of years maybe.
of course i’ve seen the bins empty up in the morning, and then by 1 they’re already overflowing with garbage.
But in the post u said they just took the garbage off the floor, and posted the third picture as proof.
Bit confused… So they empty the bins on some days?
No idea, I can’t find a logical answer
Yea lol that’s salmiya… Anyways I would like to see them empty the dumpster everyday and line up the bins side by side, not randomly scattered. If after a week of this protocol there’s still overflowing garbage… Then adding more bins would be the solution.
But as if they will implement that 😂
Can you spray paint it to look like its theirs…???
Lool , I am laughing at the comparison between Kuwait and Calgary
Looks like the situation will not get sorted out too soon.
I`m wondering why the 4 containers are not being placed close to each other in an organized manner and just thrown in a random pattern? Why doesn`t Baladia get involved and build proper places to set the garbage containers, surrounded with a wire fence to keep the garbage from flying around during windy weather?
There`s just a simple answer, no one cares. Here things works like Justin said “shitty, but not to shitty”, it`s easier to be reactive instead of pro-active, take less energy.
I would love to see Kuwait growing and aiming higher.
Here’s a solution, instead of complaining about the situation for YEARS, how about you get off your keyboard and place some bins in the sandlot yourself? I know it’s probably illegal but you’d be doing everyone a favor. I doubt that anyone would complain about there being an extra garbage bin.
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or serious. I’m guessing sarcastic because where the fuck would I get a garbage bin from? I mean I could probably steal a few from other neighborhoods but I don’t own a truck to transport them…
HAHA, I’m sort of serious. You could probably buy one from them. Ask around.
That’s the most stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.. folks in Kuwait are loosing their mind!
Yes, they should tighten their minds.
The thing is though, even if you did manage to get a new bin in the lot, the workers still wouldn’t empty the bin because it’s not supposed to be there. I’m sure they keep track of all the bins and stuff. Basically, you’re screwed either way.
why aren’t the garbage truck also cleaning up THEIR OWN BINS?
I can understand leaving the bin thats not from their company alone, but wtf with leaving your own bins full?????
Its not just a problem in your area mark, its a problem all over salmiya, same is the case in my neighbourhood.
Same case in the vast majority of Kuwait.
Sad.. It’s because some douchebags running the Kuwait Municipality, things will never change.
mark why dont you go to the mayor of hawali (his office is at the end of tunis st) and show him the pics and your timelapse maybe you will get this shit sorted.
I live in Salmiya as well, there are some bins that are behind fashion mill, which are used by the numerous cafes around there. The cafes are quite good and get most of the rubbish in the bins. What makes a mockery of it is the cleaning guys come and they don’t lift the skips into a truck and empty them, they bring a digger and tip the bin over to get all the rubbish on the floor and then use the digger to pick up the rubbish and put it on the back of the truck.
It’s ok giving the contract to new companies but at least make sure they have the tools to do a proper job. Nearly end of the year so suppose it’ll be another company taking over soon. Last year when the old company was finishing their contract they removed all the bins well before the end of the year and new company were slow providing new bins.
Slightly off topic -just curious as to where does all the garbage in Kuwait ultimately get dumped?
here’s a thought; those bins in the picture are the big ones, lets call em the 90s bins, now kuwait has undergone a rapid growth process, where smaller buildings (i.e less households) were torn down and replaced by taller buildings (i.e more households), now what do households do? well they produce trash, now what happened with the trash bins? they became smaller. smaller and higher in number, taking up more space.
the solution? be like turkey, put the trash bins underground, and make em as big as you can carry.
We have a garbage bin for our complex and surprisingly, I guess because it is too far for the next closest bldg tenants to walk, it doesn’t overflow. Now the said building i mentioned, they have 3 of the medium sized bins with the wheels on them. There trash is collected everyday. Also they tie up all the card board for for another truck to come by and collect. Now one of those traditional sit down on the floor local restaurants has 1 trash bin near that one that it shares with the apartment building next to it and also the Best Western next to it. They actually could us another bin or just have the bin emptied every 12 hours. That bin in particular has dumpster divers creating a lot of the mess too! And it contributes to the aggressive stray dogs that come around.
Well Mark,
Maybe if you didn’t live on the side of Salmiya where the low income People lived, Then I bet you wouldn’t have this Problem, Maybe you should think about upgrading your living standards since you seem to be doing really well with your blog.. you probably can afford it..
It’s my neighborhood, I’ve lived there for 30+ years I’m not moving anywhere. Plus running away doesn’t solve the garbage situation in Kuwait.
I find your comment offensive. Are you saying because the people in the locality have less money they should suffer? What are you saying?!
I live in an upscale villa right on the Gulf Road (near to the Radisson) – I can tell you its even better than where you’re staying (based on the quality of your remark/mentality and my gauging what you could possibly afford) – but I have the same problem and its overflowing with garbage.