WATCH: Plastic City continues to burn

The Ekurhuleni Council has rejected a motion by the Democratic Alliance with regard to the Weltevreden Landfill Site and the Plastic City informal settlement.

The motion, which calls for the revocation and suspension of the waste management licence at the site, was recently tabled by DA member of the Environmental Development Committee and PR councillor Gary Scallan.

Scallan is exacerbated and frustrated by the Ekurhuleni Waste Management Department’s lack of accountability.

He believes the landfill site operator, Sungu Sungu, is breaching its licensing conditions by allowing reclaimers to enter the landfill site via security breaches in the perimeter fencing.

Solid waste by-laws specifically state: “No person shall enter a landfill site or refuse transfer station or mini disposal site with the purpose of scavenging”.

Read: Cachalia appalled by ‘Plastic City’

According to Scallan, the informal settlement exists only due to the non-enforcement of the by-laws.

He proposed the following remedy in the motion:

• Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) revoke the operator’s licence granted to Sungu Sungu for the Weltevreden Landfill Site as per 56.3 of the Waste Act that governs the revocation and suspension of waste management licences due to the continual security infringements allowed by the said operator.

• EMM formalises a Material Recovery Facility post haste on the Weltevreden site, whereby the formalisation of the employment rights for the reclaimers be encouraged.

• EMM identify alternative land and provide access to adequate housing for the informal settlement as per Section 26 of the Constitution.

• EMM rehabilitates the existing land where Plastic City is located within a reasonable, but timeous time frame, fence the area and prevent further land invasion.

Scallan’s motion was denied by Council Speaker Patricia Kumalo, who allegedly considered the remedy “too prescriptive”.

WATCH: 

Scallan stated that the proposed remedy was that of the Brakpan Customer Care Centre manager and of the Waste Department itself, and that it was discussed at one of the quarterly public meetings at the Brakpan Civic Centre, hosted by the Waste Department and Sungu Sungu.

“We have a serious environmental issue at the Weltevreden Landfill Site,” he said.

“The Ekurhuleni Waste Department has a dismal recycling record and they have also failed to appoint a director for landfills for nearly two years now.

“I have submitted questions to council regarding this, and the Waste Department remains evasive and contrary to enforcing the by-laws.

“We have handed in petitions to all three spheres of government, namely Council, Province and Parliament.

“I have still not received feedback from any of these organs of state.”

Scallan told the Herald he receives complaints about the informal settlement from Brakpan residents, with specific emphasis on smoke and air pollution, litter and the playing of loud music until the early morning hours.

“I have recommended that the residents complain to the Human Rights Commission, which I believe they have done,” he said.

The smoke emanates from the burning of e-waste (discarded electrical or electronic devices).

The reclaimers burn the items to recover the precious metals and are endangering their health, as well as that of other people in the vicinity, by inhaling the toxic fumes.

“Now that the Speaker has rejected my motion, I am clear to take this to the Public Protector, where I am accusing the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of maladministration, undue delay and abuse of power,” added Scallan.

Comment requested from council had not been received at the time of going to press.

Read: Tired of the rubbish

The Herald asked our online readers to share their thoughts on Plastic City:

“My parents have been living in Anzac for the past 20 years and since the squatters have taken over, the smell of burning plastic is unbearable,” one woman wrote in an email.

“Some days you have to keep the doors closed because the smell is so bad.”

An Anzac resident, who requested to remain anonymous, lamented how residents were developing serious health issues and that children in the neighbourhood were spending their nights on oxygen and nebulisers.

“The inhabitants of Plastic City are breaking the law full stop,” he wrote.

“They are infringing on our basic human right to clean air.”

He also bemoaned an increase in crime and a decrease in property values.

Viviane Melhuish commented on the Herald’s Facebook page: “Disgraceful, health hazard to rate-paying residents living close by, health hazard to those occupying the site, danger to motorists.

“I thought dumping was illegal and the council was going to do something about it a while back.

“The problem has, in the meantime, escalated out of control.”

Robyn Castles commented on the Herald’s website: “This is the only way those poor people know how to make money, it’s survive or die for them, but when you consider the safety and health implications…and this is applicable to us as residents as well as the inhabitants of the city.”

“Not only are the fumes from their fires spreading as far as down to the dam on certain days, but you have kids no older than two or three years old playing way too close to a road where speeding is a known problem.

“What of rats and other diseases as a result of poor sanitation and piles of rubbish?”

Read: Rubbish and squatters aplently

The Herald visited the informal settlement on Tuesday. Over 100 photos of the community can be viewed here:

Breathing is a hazard here (1)

Breathing is a hazard here (2)

Breathing is a hazard here (3)

Breathing is a hazard here (4)

Breathing is a hazard here (5)

Breathing is a hazard here (6)

Breathing is a hazard here (7)