For 23 years, the people of Alqush (Alqosh) sub-district of Nineveh Province have been inhaling the smoke from a garbage dump. Garbage is burned daily at the gate of the Alqush in the Nineveh plain. The dump, which has been there for two decades, not only gives the district an unsightly appearance but also pollutes the environment and poses a threat to the lives of the residents due to the smoke and smell it emits.
The landfill is situated just a few meters from the main road between Alqush and Tilkef in the Nineveh plain.
Jinan Shakir, a resident of Alqush, expressed the community's long-standing suffering due to the dump.
"When the dump is burned, the smoke reduces visibility on the main road and leads to traffic accidents," she explained.
Alqush is a sub-district within the Telkef district, with a predominantly Christian population, along with other ethnic and religious communities such as Arabs, Kurds, and Yazidis spread across 42 villages.
Jabar Shino, a 55-year-old resident of Srechkaya village, shared a tragic incident where a driver from their village fell victim to the garbage burning.
"Smoke filled the area during the incident, leaving no one to rescue him."
The garbage in Alqosh is collected and discharges at this site and “but no one holds them accountable. Part of it is burned by the company and the rest by people.”
Environmental pollution is one of the causes of cancer. According to the Ministry of Health of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 9,911 new cases of cancer were registered in the Kurdistan Region in 2023 alone, and lung cancer is the second highest type of cancer.
Lara Yousef, the mayor of the Alqush, admitted that waste is dumped in the area due to lack of proper disposal sites, causing pollution near residential areas.
Yousef mentioned that despite the harmful effects on human health, agriculture, and livestock, “there are no plans for waste recycling or burial.”
“Numerous requests have been made to authorities to address the issue, but no action has been taken.”
Raad Hadidi, the director general of Nineveh municipalities, highlighted that Alqush is not the only area facing this problem, as 20 municipal units in Nineveh province are in a similar situation. He emphasized the need for a collective effort from government entities to tackle the issue effectively.
“Alqosh needs a 20 donum (2 hectare) of land for a landfill.”
Before the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS conflict in 2014, progress was being made towards
a solution, but the subsequent unrest halted all advancements.
Iraq produces around 30,000 tons of solid waste every day, says the United Nations Developing Program UNDP Iraq in a report out in June 2022. “The country lacks real waste management infrastructure to dispose this waste in a proper way that ensures no negative environmental nor health effects, therefore, most of it gets disposed in unregulated landfills.”
Despite the difficulties the country faces when it comes to waste management, as part of the peer-to-peer component of UNDP’s Supporting Recovery and Stability in Iraq through Local Development program, funded by the European Union EU, two waste management projects are being implemented in Nineveh and Thiqar provinces as a partnership between the European peer: PIN Prato of Prato Italy and the local authorities.
Sinan Subhi, the director of the Nineveh Environmental Office, stressed the urgency of providing suitable land for waste disposal to mitigate the environmental damage caused by garbage dumping.
“The site used now as a landfill is property of ordinary people. We are in touch with government offices and ministries and seriously try to find a solution.”
