Sinune residents face trash crisis in recovering town

SINUNE, Iraq — Piles of garbage have accumulated around the Shingal town of Sinune and surrounding areas for over two weeks. While the municipality has been collecting some of the trash, residents of the town are fed up with the encroaching waste. 

“We, the people of Sinune, want the garbage taken away,” said Issa Haider, a local labourer. “It is dirty. We may get sick.”

The municipality says they don’t have enough garbage trucks and bulldozers to properly move the waste. Moreover, they also lack enough specialized land for the garbage, which is generally sent to a remote area three kilometres from the town.

Jameel Safook Murad, head of Sinune municipality, says he is in contact with the Iraqi government to address the issue.

“Actually, we are trying to collect it, but it rained a lot last week. We did not have the crawler bulldozers needed to dig and bury the litter. We are trying our best to resolve this issue,” he said.

Thousands of Yazidis returned to the district of Shingal in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic which pushed many to leave squalid and unsanitary camps. 

Reporting by Tahsin Qasim 

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed