The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy handed over waste collection and landfill management vehicles to the Merafong City Local Municipality and the Rand West City Local Municipality on Monday May 30.
In a statement issued by the department’s Albi Modise, he said this national waste-management intervention sought to address waste collection issues in unserviced areas, illegal dumping, and landfill operations in selected municipalities across all provinces.
As part of this intervention, the minister handed over waste collection and landfill management fleet, also known as the yellow fleet, to Merafong (one skip-loader truck) and Rand West City (one front-end loader) amounting to a combined budget of nearly R4 million.
“Due to insufficient budget, most local municipalities are facing serious challenges with waste collection services and as a result, some of the residents and businesses dump waste in open spaces, creating illegal dumping sites. Waste-disposal facilities in most municipalities are also experiencing serious non-compliance as waste is not properly managed due to lack of fleet and equipment. In an attempt to assist the municipalities, the department in 2018/19 engaged with CoGTA and National Treasury to enable municipalities to procure waste collection and landfill operation vehicles through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG).”
Creecy said, “I am here today to ensure our country becomes proudly free of illegal dumping, litter and other waste. We are all aware of our constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to our health and well-being.
We are also well aware of the fact that a large number of municipalities in South Africa are struggling to provide the communities they service will regular, and consistent, waste-collection services. These municipalities also struggle to clear illegal dumps and to meet landfill-site compliance requirements.
“Because of this, there has been an increase in illegal dumping in some areas, which could either be the result of failing collection services or a lack of awareness by the municipality of the impact of pollution on the environment and the health of the community.”
Creecy was joined by RWCLM Executive Mayor Gladys Khoza and the Executive Mayor of the West Rand District Municipality Councillor Hullet Hild.
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