BUSINESS owners on Woodford Grove in Morningside are at their wits’ end with the illegal dumping that regularly occurs on the road.
At the entrance to the road, there is a huge pile of rubbish that includes scrap metal, used condoms, food containers, black dirt bags filled with more rubbish, and other odd bits and pieces. Morningside business owner Monique Peterson says this is a recurring issue in Woodford Grove.
“Time and time again, I have either cleaned the dirt myself or had someone else clean it. Regardless, there is always another pile a few days later!” Peterson owns a business on Woodford Grove and says that the illegal dumping crisis in the road has affected her business. “I can’t even invite clients to visit the office because the state of the road is terrible and quite frankly embarrassing.”
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Peterson believes that the rubbish comes from many of the businesses on Woodford Grove and many of the people that frequent the area. “It’s difficult to solve the problem when we don’t know exactly who is to blame. But this problem is definitely caused by businesses and members of the community.”
According to another business owner on the road, who chooses to remain anonymous, the homeless people who walk the streets of Morningside, including Woodford Grove, are not contributors to the rubbish crisis. “People find it easy to blame the people who are homeless and on the streets, but I can recall many times when they have helped me to clear some of this rubbish. The problem is the businesses – one business litters and then the others follow – that’s how we end up with such big piles,” said the businessman.
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Peterson said they have attempted to reach out to the municipality but to no avail. “This problem is never-ending. We pay rates and taxes, and every week, municipal staff drive past here to fetch the rubbish, but they have never addressed the dumping problem we have here.”
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