New incinerator online in Siem Reap’s Banteay Srei
BANTEAY Srei district governor Khim Finan said “the pilot project of the district’s joint i n c i n e r a t o r ” h a s b e e n launched, with more than 10 tonnes of rubbish collected for incineration.
Fina n sa id t he a mount of r ubbish lef t scattered in t he dist r ict, which is located i n Siem Reap province, had been lef t u ntouched for a long time.
The district governor told The Post on Thursday that the incinerator is located in Romc h e k commune a nd o n Wednesday, 10 tonnes of rubbish was dried, separated and sold as scrap before being burned.
Finan said the enormous supply of rubbish was collected from villages and streets, which were especially full of waste after the Pchum Ben holiday. It is estimated that three to four tonnes of rubbish were collected each day.
“From today onwards, people in all villages in Banteay Srei can transport their daily waste to put in temporary rubbish storage by themselves.
“It has been prepared in many places in each village. This service is free for people but requires proper waste sorting and packaging before the commune and district team brings the rubbish to the incinerator regularly,” Finan said.
In light of this new mechanism, he requested people not burn rubbish at their houses or throw them in public land as they did before.
When this new mechanism is working smoothly, the district administration will prepare to penalise those who don’t comply. He said burning trash in public leads to health issues and lowers air quality.
Vi Ngek, a resident of Banteay Srei district’s Khnar Sandai commune, said the rubbish storage in her district is still problematic due to the lack of participation of some people.
He said if the district administration can implement the mechanism successfully, it would be better, as in some areas there is still no proper rubbish disposal.
“In my place in the evening,
I always put [my rubbish] in a tuk-tuk to throw away in the public rubbish dump. If the district is organised, I will be happy because rubbish will no longer leave a bad smell there. If we help clean together, it will be clean,” Ngek said.
Because Banteay Srei is a tourist destination, Finan urged the people to store their waste properly and promote the cleanliness of public places.
According to Finan, people still do not know how to properly divide disposable waste, which puts the responsibility on authorities to separate the waste before burning it in the incinerator.
To solve this problem, the authorities will continue to educate the public and tourists on proper waste storage.