Illegal dumping persists in Finnemore Street, Paradise, turning the area into a makeshift dumpsite.
“The problem with illegal dumping is a syndrome among people called NIMBY, which means Not In My Backyard. This has resulted in people dumping in an open space, thinking it is fine to do so, as long as their yard was clean,” said Thava Kelly from Community Services.
Mrs Kelly said it was necessary for residents to change their behaviour, instead of the municipality having to enforce punitive measures.
“The Waste Department has erected numerous ‘no dumping’ signs in the area, however, it has fallen blind to many. The municipality will now be taking stringent action against perpetrators,” she said.
There will be a R1 500 fine for guilty residents, whereas businesses will need to fork out R2 500 if caught.
The refuse skips in Finnemore Street were initially meant for garden refuse, but upon investigation Mrs Kelly said it was found that businesses were abusing the skips.
“Businesses are avoiding paying for additional waste services to cut costs, dumping their waste into these open spaces.”
This left the irksome responsibility of cleaning-up to the municipality.
“It is frustrating trying to clean-up and having to contend with the area left filthy in a matter of hours.”
If illegal dumping continued, Mrs Kelly said the municipality would be removing the skips from the area.
Mayor Afzul Rehman said the bins would be in fact moved. “We will be relocating the bins to an area closer to the rank.”
Any illegal dumping should be reported to 034 328 7724/26/47.
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