The site, which was used as a parking place for refuse trucks up to last year, is now being used to dump all sorts of rubbish, including potentially hazardous waste. It is situated just over the old railway track as one exits Carletonville via Agnew Road.
The Herald visited the site with a councillor, Mr Carlos Rebelo, on Friday.
Large heaps of rubbish could be seen from the road, but the real problems at the site could only be appreciated driving along the dirt road to the dump, scattered with litter.
“What on earth is this?” Rebelo asked as he walked towards several heaps of unusual black material that looked like sand. Upon closer inspection, the heaps consisted of millions of tiny bits of ground-up plastic like one would find at a plastic recycler. Some of the other waste thrown on the site has the potential to be even more dangerous to the environment and possibly residents too.
In more than one place, people had dumped sheets of asbestos or fibreglass, with the elements pulling apart their long fibres.
Elsewhere, someone had dumped rolls of a similar ma- terial that looked like piping insulation.
“The municipality will have to come and look at this site. It is becoming a full-scale rubbish dump right next to town. Many people have already complained and they do not even know what it is,” says Rebelo.
According to the World Health Organisation, “all types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, cancer of the larynx and ovary, and asbestosis (fibrosis of the lungs). Exposure to asbestos occurs through inhalating the fibres in the air in a working environment, ambient air in the vicinity of point sources like factories handling asbestos, or indoor air in housing and buildings containing friable (crumbly) asbestos materials.”
The government also has a specific policy on ther handling and disposal of asbestos and asbestos-containing waste, which must be done in terms of Section 20 of the Environmental Conservation Act (73 of 1989). According to these guide- lines, asbestos taken from buildings carries the highest risk. Various sources say disintegrating fibreglass is also considered potentially dangerous to people’s health, especially their lungs.
The Herald asked the Merafong City Local Municipality about the dump on Tuesday but has had no response on the matter.