Mombasa,KENYA:The Mombasa county will suspend the licences of commercial entities in Mombasa that do not put on display their garbage bins in 20 days.
Speaking to journalists, the Mombasa county environment CEC Dr Godffery Nyongesa Nato said that the county had decided to implement the waste management act of 2017 in a bid to curb the garbage menace in the county.
The waste management act calls for the transfer of waste by waste generators to persons licenced to collect waste.
“Waste generators which are mostly households and commercial entities and property owners are required to have waste bins on their property and their premises and estate” Nyongesa said.
Nyongesa further gave the waste generators a 20 day ultimatum to acquire and display the waste bins whose specifications are handled bins of 23 cubic feet by 2.5 cubic feet.
Nyongesa also said that the county had given a seven day ultimatum to private waste handlers and transporters to register themselves with the department of environment .
This comes just a few days after the Mombasa governor said that the county would introduce a ‘waste collection levy’.
According to county officials the charge would be based on the amount of garbage collected.
The county has continuously blamed the garbage menace in the county on private firms dumping garbage on non designated sites.
This comes amidst an outbreak of mosquito spread Chikungunya and Onyong Nyong viruses in the county which residents have blamed on garbage which is providing conducive breeding sites for the mosquitoes.
By late last week the health department had confirmed 40 cases of the Chikungunya virus.
