Smouldering at composting plant poses health risks for Johannesburg residents
The residents urgently want the site to be cleared.
A bulldozer is seen clearing some of the smouldering compost at the Gartskloof Landfill site in Pretoria East, the compost heaps caught fire on Monday and will take more than a week to douse the smouldering heaps, 9 November 2017, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Johannesburg residents living near to the Panorama Composting Plant in Roodepoort say that a smouldering site in the area, left after a recent fire, is a serious health hazard for them.
“On Tuesday, 29 September 2020, a fire broke out at the Panorama compost site (corner of Hendrik Potgieter and Jim Fouche Drives, Roodepoort),” Therese Lottering wrote to News24 on Thursday.
“The situation is dire as the site has been persistently smouldering for the past nine days and the constant inhalation of toxic smoke poses serious health risks to all residents in the vicinity,” Lottering added.
The residents urgently want the site to be cleared.
They wrote to the office of Johannesburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo on Wednesday.
News24 reached out to the City of Johannesburg for comment, which will be added once received.
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