A resident of Ichagaki ward of Murang’a County has raised concerns over poorly disposed beer bottles which are scattered in many local trading centres.
Charity Wangechi has been trying to clean up by collecting the glass bottles and keeping them in one of the rooms in her house.
Since last year, Wangechi has been collecting the bottles saying the littered containers are not only an environmental hazard but also pose risk to children.
She lamented the area has several drinking dens but owners of the bars have not taken any measures to properly dispose of the empty glass bottles.
The bottles she said, are polluting the environment and accused relevant government agencies for failure in directing better ways of disposing of glass-made liquor bottles.
“Broken glass bottles are dangerous since they can hurt locals and especially our children as they play,” she told KNA.
Wangechi said she was concerned by the heaps of bottles dumped at the back areas of bars within the shopping centres.
“I have very many bottles which have been stored in my house and planning to dispose them in the right way. I just decided to collect them and keep them away from exposure to children,” she explained.
Wangechi reflected that when she was young, she lost a friend who was cut on her hip by a broken piece of glass.
“That incident made me concerned about the disposal of bottles. My high school friend one time fell and was cut by a broken glass bottle on the hip and she later succumbed to the injury,” lamented Wangechi.
Area residents challenged the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to educate bar owners on how to properly dispose of liquor bottles.
At Ichagaki shopping centre, there are eight bars. Most of them dump the used bottles at garbage pits, while others just litter the area with the same exposing residents to danger.
A resident Beatrice Njeri observed the broken bottles dumped on farms are also endangering farmers especially when they are tilling their shambas.
By Bernard Munyao
