The rubbish collection problem is back as residents in parts of Siusega claimed household rubbish had not been collected for almost a week.

The inner roads of Siusega had rubbish piled on both sides of the road with some residents raising concerns about the health implications of the uncollected rubbish for close to a week.

John Siania of Siusega said her was concerned because the neighbourhood was turning into a rubbish dump site.

“The weather is wet and we rubbish outside which has not been collected. Maybe, this is just my observation but I have been seeing a lot of flies,” he said.

“All we ask is that rubbish be collected twice a week, then we will not have a pile up. This will ensure the health of the residents in our village is good and the environment clean.”

A security officer working at the UNESCO compound located in Siusega said he had been rolling full wheelie bins out every morning and back every afternoon for almost a week.

He said he was hoping that the collection company would come to the area and not just the areas along the main road.

Another resident said that some places were starting to emit a foul smell because of the uncollected rubbish. The uncollected rubbish is mostly in the inner roads of Siusega.

A spokesperson from the company responsible for the rubbish collection, Jaffa’s Sanitary Systems, said they would check the area to see if rubbish has been collected.

The company said the Siusega area was a huge area but they will around to check. 

Last week the Samoa Observer highlighted uncollected rubbish in areas outside of the Apia township which included, Vailima, Vaitele and Fagalii. Following queries to the rubbish collection company, rubbish had been collected.

A day later last Thursday the Government Ministry with oversight over Apia's waste management system admitted rubbish has not being collected in a number of areas and apologised.

The office of the Minister of Natural Resources Environment and Tourism, in a post on its official Facebook page on Thursday last week, said it might appear that contractors are not doing the rubbish collection but it is due to the high volume of waste generated by each household.

The Minister's Office said following "some concerns raised by the public on waste collections over the public holiday period", the Waste Management unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, along with the contractors for each zone around Upolu undertook another follow-up collection on Thursday from Falelatai in the west to Aleipata in the east as well as Falealili and the south.

 "These areas usually have one collection a week. Around the town area has two collections a week," read the statement that was posted on the Office's Facebook page.

It is believed that to increase the frequency of collection in areas where the rubbish collection is once a week, the Government will have to pay more money to the contractors for the extra expense they would incur.