“People are getting sick!”
This was the statement made by an angry resident about the apparent non-removal of two skips placed at the corner of Dandenong and 26th streets near the Tooronga Railway Station in Cleveland.
Mike Spadino, a resident of Malvern and chairperson of the Malvern Care Team, said the large open-topped waste containers have been full soon after they were placed there about two years ago.
He said these skips have become a threat to the health of people in the community, particularly children who sometimes play near the skips.
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“The skips have been there for at least two years now, if not longer. They were placed there for Prasa (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa) and have never been removed since. They are full, they smell bad and people are getting sick as a result,” said Spadino.
He said Pikitup insisted that they cannot remove the skips as they belong to a privately-owned waste management company.
The company, Interwaste, who bought over Enviro Waste which placed the skips in the area, responded to an email inquiry by the EXPRESS, stating that they were not aware of the issue.
In the response, the company commits to removing the skips and to conduct an investigation into the matter, but blames an increase in theft for the “unfortunate crisis”.
“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, which I have since escalated to our operations team. The team will remove the skips today (March 12),” said director of business development and marketing at Interwaste, Kate Stubbs.
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“Over the last year, we have implemented more extensive tracking systems into our vehicles and bins to mitigate risks, but we have experienced a rise in theft of our equipment.
“We will do a full investigation into how this transpired. If the resident has any further information, we would appreciate it if they could share this with us to assist with our investigation.”
