“Once again there is a huge backlog in waste removal in Germiston.”
These were the words of Ward 36 councillor Wendy Morgan.
She further stated that Germiston was not the only city facing this problem.
ALSO READ: Resident concerned over power issues, refuse collection
However, this is little solace to many residents who have not had their rubbish collected for several weeks.
“My bins are full and starting to stink,” said a Dinwiddie resident, who did not wish to be named.
“When you call the call centre you get no answers or feedback.”
Leon de Beer, another disgruntled resident, noted that since the introduction of the wheelie bin system there have been continuous delays in refuse removal.
“There is no longer timeous refuse removal on the scheduled days,” de Beer said.
Willie Smith, a Tedstoneville resident, shared his frustration.
“The last time they collected the refuse was at the end of October,” Smith said.
“When I phoned the metro’s call centre I was told that there are only two trucks doing the routes.
“My rubbish is not being collected, yet the metro continues to charge me for the service.”
Carmel Singh added, “So besides always having power outages, which the metro cannot explain, they are now not collecting the rubbish.
“So although we pay for all these services we do not receive them. Why exactly are we paying when the metro cannot do their job?”
Another complaint from the community is how the waste management personnel handle the wheelie bins.
“The staff break the wheelie bins and then we, as residents, are expected to replace them,” said a resident who wishes to remain anonymous.
ALSO READ: ‘Germiston power supply anything but stable’
The GCN sent a query to the metro to find out what had caused the backlog and when it would be resolved.
“The cause of non-collection is vehicle breakdowns,” said Themba Gadebe, spokesperson for the metro.
“For the last two weeks we have been operating with an average of five trucks per day instead of the 10 trucks required per day.”
Gadebe further stated the metro was working with the Bedfordview depot to tackle the backlog.
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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, Leigh Hodgson (News Editor) leighh@caxton.co.za or Ashley Kiley (Journalist) ashleyk@caxton.co.za.
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