Sophiatown resident Nick Rautenbach addresses the issue of wheelie bins and rubbish found around them:
Wheelie bins were originally implemented to avoid the current mess in our streets but people are either too lazy to return for their wheelie bins or they are afraid that it may get stolen.
Instead of wheeling their rubbish out in bins, made specially to protect it from various elements, they put it out in thin plastic bags.
As a result, wheelie bins became useless objects within the parameters of many properties.
Increasingly more residents start to put their rubbish out in black plastic bags.
If the wheelie bins are full, they simply leave it next to the wheelie bins.
Previously, some of the contents were reduced by informal waste collectors, who then managed to squeeze the remaining volume into the bins, but now fewer wheelie bins are used and the number of bags is increasing to an uncontrollable level.
Pikitup trucks refuse to collect rubbish in any form unless it is in a wheelie bin, but to make matters worse, there are some days when Pikitup, for some unknown reason, choose not to collect at certain streets.
This may be due to strikes or a grudge against certain community movements, but that is another problem on its own.
The disturbing result is that, because it is not contained in bins, more rubbish is left exposed for an entire week before the next scheduled collection, by which time it would become a stinky mess – torn and spread by stray dogs, informal waste collectors and wind.
I would seriously encourage the City council to put their warning into action by fining residents who put out waste or bulky rubble by any other means besides wheelie bins.
The council should also remove wheelie bins from residents where it becomes evident that it is not used for the purpose of easing waste collection.
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