Baghdad officials say improved living standards behind garbage pileup
Uncollected garbage in Baghdad.
Hassoun al-Rubaiey, a member of the council’s services committee, was quoted as saying that the “improved standards of living among citizens over the past period has led to an increase in garbage”. He added that province officials were working hard to resolve the issue.
A contract between the province and a Lebanse garbage collecting company has recently expired, causing huge piles of trash to litter several areas of the capital, making it prone to an environmental crisis.
Iraq’s planning minister Salman al-Jumaili said in a statement in December that poverty rates in Iraq surged by 6.5 percent to 30 percent due to security and economic hardships caused by Islamic State militancy.
But the ministry came again to announce last Tuesday that it had not registered any new increases in poverty rates, adding that the rate stood at 22.5 percent of the population according to a last survey it had conducted in late 2014.
Baghdad has been suffering almost-daily bombings and armed attacks on civilians and security forces since Islamic State militants emerged in 2014 to proclaim the establishment of a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”.