Waste containers and rubbish outside Tetovo kindergartens and schools — teachers demand relocation or more frequent collection
Clusters of household containers and irregular emptying have prompted schools to ask for dislocation or steadier pickups.
Teachers and school administrators in Tetovo are increasingly concerned about clusters of household waste containers placed near kindergartens and schools, and are calling for either the relocation of those bins or more reliable collection.
As container sites have tended to be grouped — often with more than five units at a single spot — some facilities now find themselves bordering large accumulation points for household rubbish. That practice, teachers say, has created hygiene and safety worries for children and staff.
"For our school it is equally a big problem that the containers are emptied irregularly," said Mile Gjorgjeski of the Music School, noting that overflowing bins and scattered waste reach school grounds between collection intervals.
Operator details and official figures
Saubermacher Tetovo, the company responsible for emptying the containers and transporting waste to the regional landfill, says its teams make repeated collection efforts and sometimes pick up refuse more than once a day.
"From January to September this year our teams collected and transported more than 25,000 tonnes of municipal waste, as well as nearly 2,900 tonnes of bulky waste. Our vehicles covered about 225,000 kilometres in that period. These numbers show the scale of everyday work needed to ensure regular waste collection across the territory of the Municipality of Tetovo," said Vulnet Sela of Saubermacher Tetovo.
Municipal authorities and the local utility stress that removing bulky waste and litter from public areas is the responsibility of the municipal utility. Residents are urged to use the free bulky-waste pickup service: teams will come to the door and collect large items if citizens call the municipal utility. Alternatively, bulky items can be taken to Saubermacher's collection centre.
"The team goes to every door and collects bulky waste and it is free. We did this to have a cleaner city and to provide a solution for where people can dispose of bulky items," said Samet Bislimi of JKP Tetovo. Several kindergartens and schools have formally requested that container sites be moved further from their facilities or that collection be made more frequent.
Photo: press material from the event
