The amount of garbage in Phnom Penh is said to have nearly doubled since 2002. Photo credit: Daniel Otis

The pile of trash is only getting bigger. Torn plastic bags, broken styrofoam containers and scraps of rotting food roast in the tropical sun; the smell of the fly-swarmed mess is nauseating. Residents shake their heads: this should have been picked up yesterday. Then, one night, a battered green garbage truck with the word “CINTRI” painted on the side finally chugs its way down the street, trailed by swarm of shirtless young men in flip-flops who shovel rubbish into the back.

In 2002, CINTRI, a branch of Canadian firm Cintec Environment Inc., was granted an exclusive 50-year contract to collect commercial and residential waste in Phnom Penh and keep the city’s main streets clean. The exact details of the company’s agreement with city hall have never been made public, but since the deal was inked, Phnom Penh’s population has swelled from just over one million to two million people. The population boom and its attendant urban sprawl seem to have caught CINTRI off-guard.

“The company is not making money,” CINTRI president Hor Kimsay told the The Phnom Penh Post in February. “About 20 per cent of all people who should pay [for trash collection] never pay.”

The company’s failure to collect payment from city residents has led to crazy fee irregularities as CINTRI is forced to offer large discounts to people who refuse to pay for trash collection. Adding to the company’s woes, earlier this year, most of CINTRI’s 1,400 workers went on strike to demand higher wages. The chaos has raised the ire of Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong, who has threatened to cancel the contract unless CINTRI cleans up its act. Taking a somewhat more conciliatory tone, last week Phnom Penh’s deputy governor announced that the city is looking for a second waste collection company to pick up the slack.....Continue Reading

> via Next City