A plea to join efforts in keeping Hillcrest Beautiful

THE Keep Hillcrest Beautiful Association is reminding the community that their recycling centre is not a dumping site. This is after they learned that some community members have been dumping garbage on their site. While the association appreciates the recyclable items which helps drive their project, they said the unwanted items set them back and do not fulfil the purpose of their centre.

The Keep Hillcrest Beautiful Association is responsible for the beautification of the Hillcrest area by picking up litter and maintaining some verges in the area. The recycling centre is one of their projects that brings in funds to keep the organisation running.

Marge Mitchell of the association said the recycling centre is one of their most effective projects. “The recyclables brought in here are sold to different companies that use them, and this money contributes to the maintenance and pays the staff that work here. We accept paper, cardboard, polystyrene, cans and glass bottles,” said Mitchell.

Recently, the association took it to their Facebook page to express their disappointment about people dumping garbage in the recycling centre.
“Someone recently dumped a whole pile of rubbish outside our recycling centre. We are a non-profit organisation trying to make a change to help our planet – we do not have the funds to remove and transport rubbish dumped near our centre every time,” read the post.

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Mitchell said there is no clearer way to show people what kind of items they accept. “We have two signboards on our site that show what we accept and what we don’t. We have also been told by our on-site workers that some people get aggressive when they are told not to dump garbage,” she said.

Speaking to the Highway Mail, the association pleaded with the public to refrain from using the centre as a dumping site. “We urge people to carefully select what they bring to us, and we encourage them to take what we do not accept elsewhere. Plastic can be taken to the Pat Recycling Centre where they accept them – it is on Westmead Road,” said Mitchell.
The association encouraged people to join their organisation with an annual fee of R100 as this will heighten their knowledge about the association and enable them to have more hands on deck.