THE STREET MASTERS

When you look at them, it is clear that they especially suffer from the strong Baku winds. The situation is more or less better in summer, although the scorching sunshine creates more trouble. But what about cold autumns and winters?

No matter how well they sweep the streets with their “fairy brooms” made of dry tree branches, it is a useless job: the wind takes the garbage along the roadside, if the sweepers fail to put it into a homemade garbage collector. Anything will work – a sack or box usually dragged along the cleaning path.

They cover their faces with kerchiefs used as respirators. They wrap themselves into a wide shawl keeping them from freezing in winter and the incinerating sun in summer. Atop of this is a custom uniform: usually a waistcoat issued by the municipal authority. But no matter how hard they work, the dirt and garbage remain as is, especially in autumns and winters.

The people is not well disciplined nowadays as far as the cleanliness and order are concerned. Often, both the pedestrians and car drivers throw out the garbage in the street. Numerous cigarette butts, tin cans from energy drinks, carton boxes from juices and so on. Frankly, the women street sweepers have hard times cleaning all of this. In addition, we frequently hear news about women sweepers dying on the roads of Azerbaijan because of road accidents.

In November 2016, Baku Transport Agency (BTA) appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers with a set of proposals to ensure compatibility with security measures on the congested streets of Baku, in particular on high-speed roads. It is now planned to develop appropriate regulatory and legal acts based on the instructions of the Cabinet of Ministers with the participation of the Ministry of Justice.

The spokesperson of the Baku Transport Agency, Mais Aghayev, told us about the analysis of existing situation: “Our monitoring showed that in most cases, car accidents are fatal for the workers of housing and communal services. We suggested that the high-speed streets were not cleaned by people but by specialized sweeping equipment. Currently, relevant authorities have such cleaning machines.”

Back in 2013, it was planned to purchase new garbage trucks for Baku using a loan issued by the World Bank. However, we could not find out why the municipal services have not used specialized cleaning equipment including the vacuum cleaners, as the representatives of the city authorities refused to pick up our phone calls. The relevant department holding the waste collection equipment could not comment without having a permission of the press service. Thus, we could not get any information about the number of machines purchased and the reason they have not been used so far. Although one could see vacuum cleaners on high-speed roads a couple of years ago. But then the machines were again replaced by women cleaners. Why? We have no clue.

Of course, ideally, it would be better to replace all cleaners on the roads with machinery. Especially when the elderly women in coloured shawls and vests with old brooms in a glazed centre of Baku can cause bewilderment of tourists. How come that we still use the old women cleaners on the streets of the renovated Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, conquering the guests with its beauty and counting on a tourist boom in the near future?

But if we replace their labour with special equipment, will they remain without income? Expert Arshad Huseynov said that this issue was not relevant: “The implementation of the instructions given by the Cabinet of Ministers should not cause difficulties. However, there are open questions in the legislation concerning the organization of the road infrastructure and safety standards. In addition, it is most likely that the garbage cleaning equipment will only work on the main streets. This makes up about 20% of all roads. It is doubtful that this machinery can penetrate into courtyards, narrow roads and passages. They still remain dominated by women cleaners.”

Incidentally, the women cleaners is a phenomenon of all major cities of the post-Soviet space. This obsolete phenomenon is firmly rooted in the streets of our capital too.

“I visited many countries. Men mostly clean the streets both in Russia and in Europe. And often these are migrants. We have very little migrant workforce, we regulate our market ourselves. This job is mainly for women from low-income families,” said member of parliament Elmira Akhundova. According to her, although this work is dusty, it is not so heavy. And they get paid normal.

E. Akhundova notes that she has discussed this issue more than once in the parliament. One of the main problems is the lack of garbage cans on the streets of Baku. Given that the tanks should be placed at a distance of not more than 50 m from each other, this is relevant. If this problem holds true for the city center, then on busy roads, traffic junctions, in sleeping areas with an abundance of residents, where urns and tanks are particularly relevant, on the contrary, they are harder to find.

“This job should be done by someone who needs it. Apparently, since street cleaning is considered a relatively easy job, it mainly involves women. I do not know how effective this system will be,” says another member of parliament, Fazil Mustafa.

What about other countries?

In the developed countries of the world, the streets are cleaned mainly by specialized equipment, which is operated by strong young people in uniform. Of course, the specifics of different countries and cities within the same country are different. Each country has its own preferences, and clean the streets in various ways. In many respects, this is affected by the traditions of the country, degree of development of the cleaning industry, presence or absence of domestic machinery, and, consequently, the cost of cleaning streets for local communities and municipalities.

Either way, cleaning streets in Europe requires a lot of time and efforts. It does not matter, it's a big multi-million megalopolis or an old village with 50 inhabitants - cleanliness and a comprehensive, competent approach to the solution of this question are felt in everything. Also, one of the main factors affecting the situation with cleanliness in the streets is the attitude of residents of settlements that strictly follow the rules and regulations, including the unspoken ones, to maintain order. On the territory of virtually all European countries there are approved and worked out for years common cleaning standards - mandatory automated and manual washing of roads, sidewalks and curbs. Before the technicians and people start cleaning and cleaning, the tow truck cleans the parked cars incorrectly. Then, heavy machinery comes to work: an auto vacuum cleaner, drawing in dust and dirt. And already at the final stage, a watering machine is turned on.

Of course, public opinion on purity on the streets of cities, as well as public participation in this, are of great importance. It should be noted that the European population is very active in this regard. There are social movements and public organisations in a number of countries that not only know how to make beautiful statements but also are directly involved in the daily cleaning processes of their cities or monitor how carefully this matter is taken by responsible authorities.

So, European experience proves that clean roads in summer and in winter are not a luxury, but a necessary condition for a civilized, comfortable, pleasant life of any city, and also a factor attracting tourists and guests moving from other regions. And the world cleaning market today provides the widest opportunities for the purity and order reigning in every city not only in Europe, but also in our Azerbaijani cities and villages. And for this, nothing is needed: the strong-willed decision of local executive bodies, the understanding and acceptance of all approved plans and processes by the population, and the desire of each of us to maintain order and cleanliness in our streets. After all, you will agree that nothing complicated and unrealizable in the above examples is not. It is just time to cancel the work of women cleaners on the roads and to facilitate their work by using special cleaning equipment that could well correspond to the current high level of urbanisation in Baku.