Glenhills resident proposes changes for Malacca Road dump

ILLEGAL dumping on Malacca Road has continued despite efforts to keep the area clean. In 2015 the City spent more than a million Rand to erect a 1.5 metre high concrete palisade fence (topped with barbed wire) – spanning the length of Malacca Road and Ryde Place. It was thought at the time the fence would help with security and illegal dumping at the time, however it has failed to hamper illegal dumping.

What is more, most of the illegal dumping takes place within 50 metres of the Malacca Road dump.

According to the ratepayers association, residents of Malacca Informal Settlement are partly to blame for the illegal dumping particularly at the intersection of Ryde Place and Malacca Road but so to are contractors and residents illegally dumping material along the road. At a Glenhills ratepayers meeting last year, local resident, Mark Baker, outlined several proposals he felt could help stamp out illegal dumping.

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Speaking to Northglen News, Baker said his proposals dealt specifically with the Malacca Road dump.

“The dump closes at 5pm which I feel is one of the reasons that increases the chances of illegal dumping. A lot of small businesses and artisans finish late during the summer period due to the sun setting at a later time. The resultant factor is people are turned away when they arrive at the dump which then leads to an increase in illegal dumping. One of my proposals is that the City looks at extending the dump’s operating hours during the summer months. The City could then close earlier in the winter months,” he explained.

Baker added that as a regular user of Malacca Road, he noticed new items dumped along the road on an almost daily basis.

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“The other suggestion I proposed was upgrading the Malacca Road dump, the municipality certainly has the space and capacity to do so, and to include building rubble. This could help stop contractors illegally discarding of building material. I feel the upgrade and a change of rules, with regards to dumping of garden refuse would also help alleviate the scourge of illegal dumping.

“Previously residents were able to dump garden refuse three times a week but that has been reduced to just once and items like tree branches are not considered in that category and once again residents are turned away. The City perhaps could also look at employing residents from the settlement to help at the dump which again could mitigate the problems we have,” the Macushla Drive resident said.

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