Black bags a thing of the past
The City of Ekurhuleni encourages the use of the 240L wheelie bins for domestic waste collection.
Waste collectors at the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) have been given a brief to no longer collect black refuse bags on the street, as it comes with hassles of creating rubbish residue after collection.
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CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said it has become a common cause for residents to use their 240L wheelie bins for other purposes than its intended purpose.
“People prefer to put their rubbish in plastic bags on the street outside their homes rather than use these bins, which causes a lot of stress for the collectors as these plastic bags have the tendency to easily tear.
“There is also a potential danger for waste management employees on the ground as these plastic bags sometimes have broken bottles and glass in them,” said Dlamini.
CoE started the roll out of wheelie bins in 2014 in an effort to increase the storage capacity to contain domestic waste that also came with easily usable trucks for collectors to use when collecting waste.
However, they are still met with the challenge of residents leaving their waste for rodents and stray dogs to dig into.
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“The other issue with residents leaving their waste in black plastic bags on the street is that it creates rat infestations, with the potential of stray dogs finding their next meal,” said Dlamini.
A resident of Kempton Park CBD, Janetta Rautenbach, said people must make use of these wheelie bins as it is a much cleaner way to manage waste.
“Sometimes you find that the area is messy and polluted because they are easily torn by stray dogs and rats. You find a lot of litter caused when these bags tear while being thrown into the truck,” said Rautenbach.
MMC of Environment and Waste Management Services Andre du Plessis, with Mayor Tania Campbell, launched the #backtobasics campaign on March 14t in Benoni, combating illegal dumping.
Du Plessis urged residents to make use of landfill sites to prevent illegal dumping.
In a video shared by CoE promoting the #backtobasics campaign, he reminded residents to make use of the reopened Weltevreden Landfill Site instead of resorting to dumping waste and rubble in the open environment.
He said residents were advised to make use of the city’s skip services in the event that residents have a construction project on their properties.
“The city can provide you with skips. They will deliver it and they will remove the skip once it’s full. We appeal to the community to work together with us on this. Let’s all save money and clean up our environment,” said du Plessis.
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