Locals feel intimidated to dump at Alberton waste depot

Norbert Hilscher is one of many residents who have had an unpleasant experience with the state of the Heidelberg Road solid waste transfer station.

After living in Alberton for over two decades, he said the station has gone from bad to worse. Visiting the facility makes locals feel unsafe.

The Brackendowns senior resident said waste pickers, who wait outside the waste station, climb onto their vehicles as they drive in to dump their debris.

“I now dread going there and coming to a rubbish dump shouldn’t be a problem. It’s part of our community and we pay for these services. When I need to come here, I get a sick feeling and that’s abnormal. When coming here you get bombarded by people jumping on your trailer and standing on the side of your trailer,” he explained.

Recently, Hilscher saw about 10 to 15 people lying against a bakkie and taking a mattress off the bakkie. “They don’t realise that they are damaging the vehicles.”

Looking back, he said the waste depot used to be a state-of-the-art facility, before gradually deteriorating.

“It used to be great, there was control and everything used to go smoothly. And now there’s no control and people are just doing as they please. As much as people are hungry and there isn’t work, this is not right. What about people that go there alone? To me it’s just unsafe, I think it’s a hazard,” Hilscher said.

He said this was out of people’s hands and there was no control over the site.

The City of Ekurhuleni’s spokesperson Zweli Dlamini assured they would investigate the situation at the site.

“This has been escalated to the city’s waste department to conduct a proper follow-up and determine the best way to solve the issue at hand. We don’t want a situation that can become volatile when it could’ve been handled differently. There’s supposed to be peace and harmony. We understand they want to earn a living, but residents also need to dispose of their waste in peace,” he said.