UNDP official warns of solid waste management system collapse in Gaza

A UN Development Programme official has warned of the deterioration of health conditions in the Gaza Strip, saying that more than a million people are affected by hepatitis and diarrhoea, in addition to the rising cases of poliomyelitis caused by the contamination of wastewater.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), the Deputy Special Representative of UNDP’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, Chitose Noguchi, added that the situation in the Strip is extremely critical, given the crumbling system of solid waste management in a multiple ways, as waste is not collected and dumped in its designated areas such as landfills.
This has led to the emergence of over 140 emergency or interim sites for the purpose of dumping waste across the Strip, as well as a severe shortage of vehicles to transport the waste, because there are only 50 out of the 250 vehicles available before the war broke out.
She affirmed that UNDP is not capable of reaching out to numerous sites in the Gaza Strip to transport the waste, even metal containers were not distributed to multiple areas of the Strip either, due to the current conditions, pointing out that there are many lingering challenges that impede access to solid waste to be further transferred to the northern or southern of the Strip, as Israel does not approve these measures, or using essential vehicle to transport the waste, something that precludes the entire operation of UNDP.
Noguchi noted the emergence of numerous and vexing challenges in the Strip, such as medical waste that are difficult to be correctly treated or disposed, portending the emergence of a multitude of health problems in the future.
She said that these challenges are in fact a result of the situation in which the solid waste management system has collapsed.
Noguchi said the programme is currently collaborating with the Joint Service Council for Solid Waste Management and private sector in the Strip to collect waste from emergency waste dumping sites close to people, so as to move them to a more distant site, and provide the necessary fuel to operate three-wheel trucks for waste transport.
She emphasised that fuel is an extremely sensitive material in Gaza as UNDP has set a robust surveillance system there through deploying 49 fuel monitors to ensure utilising this fuel for the designated purposes, in addition to 140 workers who have been deployed through the programme to be able to support the Joint Service Council.
She highlighted that the volume of waste that has so far been collected since the start of the war reached roughly 90,000 tonnes. However, these measures are not enough due to the miserable situation there, along with the worsening health crisis in the Strip.
Noguchi pointed out that there are many people in Gaza who suffer from skin diseases as a result of the crumbling waste management system, amid challenges that prevent addressing this situation under the current conditions.
She called for addressing this health crisis pre-emptively which essentially requires advanced level of humanitarian response through expanding the UNDP’s activities to set appropriate remediation measures.
Noguchi asserted that during her recent visit to the Gaza Strip she witnessed large garbage mountains, where many displaced people live in their vicinity, underscoring the precarious situation for individuals, who are suffering from skin diseases and liver infections, in addition to the lack of clean drinking water.
She stated that UNDP strives to either treat waste in their designated areas or transport them to various sites in the Gaza Strip, emphasising that the programme is mulling a road map that strengthens the institutional capability to treat multiple types of waste.
Noguchi said that prior to the war, the number of heavy vehicles for waste transportation was 10 and now there is no heavy vehicle. There were 7,300 waste collection containers before the war and now there are only 1,300, while the number of landfill machinery units decreased from 18 units to two.
Before the war, there were five medical waste collection vehicles and now only one is working, while the number of medical waste sterilisation devices was 12 and now only one is working, in addition to the destruction and damage of all the microwave devices needed to sterilise medical waste, she stated, describing this situation as “extremely destructive.”
She noted that the UNDP had established many sewage treatment facilities in various parts of the Gaza Strip, but the war had destroyed these facilities, noting that the current situation requires ensuring the restoration of this infrastructure to prevent the spread and exacerbation of the health crisis. (QNA)