Waste disposal has become a major worry in some neighbourhoods of the nation’s capital, Yaounde.

Overflowing bins and heaps of dirt along pavements are the order of the day in some neighbourhoods.

The lack of sufficient public waste bins has led to the littering of streets by inhabitants. This, a seamstress in one of the affected neighbourhoods says, exposes people to health hazards especially food contamination and skin diseases.

Others say the company in charge of waste disposal has neither provided enough bins nor a patrol schedule, causing them to cross over several metres to dispose of waste.

A roadside vendor, Severin Sonkouat explained that he spends between 500 to 1000 CFAF weekly in paying someone to empty his thrash.

Another concerned inhabitant of one of the neighbourhoods frowned at the situation of poor waste disposal saying it is dangerous especially to children who are exposed to the dirt as they play around.

The marketplaces are not left out of the picture as one sometimes finds abandoned heaps of dirt close to food items on sale.

As inhabitants of Yaounde ponder over ways to reduce the littering, experts in the domain of environmental issues are also on the alert.

An expert at the Ministry of Environment and Protection of Nature indicates that the inadequate civic education of some individuals and poor projection by the councils account for the inadequate waste disposal.

In this light, the environmental expert called on Cameroonians to cautiously dispose of dirt and avoid littering. He also exhorted the councils to reorganize the distribution of dustbins along the town, while respecting the norms which allocate a certain ratio of dustbins to a number of people at a particular distance.