Residents of Lilianton have had enough of what they call the metro’s ‘lacklustre performance’ in dealing with the increasing amount of illegal burning of scrap tyres in their neighbourhoods.
According to one of the residents, Charlene Day, people have for years been openly flouting the by-laws by periodically burning stockpiles of used tyres, pumping toxins into the air and doubtlessly causing serious pollution crisis, while authorities are looking the other way.
The residents also complain about a recycling company they say is associated with all the environmentally-unfriendly way of burning of scrap tyres and cables in the area. It is also believed that the company in question is operating in the area illegally.
“We tried our utmost to get the municipality to stop the burning and close down the recycling company in our neighbourhood, but nothing has happened,” said Day.
Another resident, Andrew Lee, echoed the sentiments expressed by Day, saying as representatives of the community they have been pushing the metro to start a process to deal with the aforementioned environmental problems.
“Municipal officials seem powerless to stamp out the burning problem, which is particularly taking place in the open veld along Main Reef Road in Lilianton, Angelo, Kanana and Jerusalem informal settlements where the burners recover the scrap metal in the tyres and sell it to the scrapyard on Main Reef Road.
“The smoke produced in these waste tyre fires is harmful to people and the environment and the municipality appears to be making no efforts to protect us.
“We approached the municipality regarding the widespread practice of burning of used vehicle tyres in the open veld and the company involved, but it’s clear that they have failed to investigate and come up with a way to curb the environmental crisis,” said Lee.
He said all that the metro’s Corporate Legal Services Department could say, when responding to an email sent by the community asking the municipality to address the problems, was: “We shall look into the matter and revert.”
Photographs supplied by the complainants show black clouds of air pollutants from the different burning locations. They say the smoke normally disperse across Lilianton, Witfield, Angelo, Jerusalem and reaching as far as Knights.
