Published: April 2, 2025
MONROVIA – Amid the choking stench of rotting waste and swarms of flies, nearly 500 desperate marketers at the Pipeline Road Junction in Red Light are braving serious health risks as mountains of garbage pile up around their stalls — dumped not by passersby, but by the very city authorities meant to protect them.
The Paynesville City Corporation’s (PCC) transitory garbage site has become overwhelmed with heaps of waste, not only from marketers but also from nearby community residents who find the site convenient for dumping their accumulated trash.
Wilson K. Sumo, head of the acting leadership of the disenchanted marketers, told The Liberian Investigator that the situation is appalling and getting out of control, with no immediate intervention from the PCC.
“We are suffering here. We are tired of selling in garbage. The foul smell of trash makes even sitting around here unbearable, but we have nowhere else to go. Omega Market cannot accommodate all of us, which is why we continue to stay in Red Light,” Sumo said in a recent interview.
He added that he and his fellow marketers pay for the garbage to be collected and taken to a landfill, but nothing seems to be going as planned.
According to him, the marketers pay nearly L$20,000 monthly to the PCC for garbage removal at least twice a week, but the reality is far from what they were promised.
“PCC told us this place was a temporary disposal site and that they would find an alternative location, especially given how exposed and inappropriate this area is. But it’s been over a year now, and they are still dumping trash here. We are forced to inhale this stench every day. We get sick—colds and other diseases,” Sumo added.
He called on the PCC to remove the current stockpile of garbage and permanently discontinue the use of the site, urging the city to relocate the disposal area to a place where there’s no regular human interaction, especially not in a marketplace.
Food items are openly sold around the growing garbage pile, and flies greet buyers daily as the trash continues to accumulate.
When contacted, Jeremiah Diggen, Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the PCC, described the situation as unfortunate. However, he denied that the municipal authorities are intentionally exposing people to health hazards.
Diggen said, contrary to the claims of Sumo and the marketers, the PCC removes garbage from the site weekly, or in some cases every two weeks, depending on available resources.
He attributed the delays in waste removal to the lack of an accessible landfill.
“That site is a temporary location, and we’ve been regularly removing garbage, but we face challenges in identifying a suitable dumping ground. The only available landfill in Wein Town has been closed due to a lack of space,” Diggen said.
Improved sanitation was one of the campaign promises made by the Unity Party-led alliance, now the ruling establishment. However, the country continues to grapple with poor sanitation, as the streets of Monrovia and its surrounding areas suffer from ongoing environmental degradation due to improper waste disposal.
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