Mountain View residents fed up with local refuse site
The refuse site was first opened in 1986 but the state of it has gotten worse year after year.
Mountain View residents recently launched a petition to have the Japie Peens garden refuse site closed for failing health regulations.
Located on Japie Peens Street in Mountain View, the refuse site opened in 1986.
Residents who have been living in the area say that the state of the refuse site has gotten worse year after year since it first opened.
“Nobody wants to close down garden refuse sites but we need them to function as promised by the city in 1986 when it was established,” said Ward 54 councillor, Elma Nel.
“We cannot leave residents in the vicinity to live in constant filth and unhealthy conditions while listening to excuses and promises from a non-functional department.”
ALSO READ: Metro says it is hard at work clearing backlogs at garden refuse sites
The site is said to be causing multiple water leaks and residents complain of faeces floating in the water, making the stench at the site even worse.
Not only garden refuse but also household waste is said to be dumped at the refuse site.
Locals report that the waste is one storey high in some places, and even starting to overrun the nearby Prasa railway line and space next to the substation.
“The road is in a bad condition. There was a water leak repair done over six months ago which left only half the road open to traffic; filling was done two days ago but not compacted. Several potholes and water leaks are not repaired. The refuse can reach about 4m high all over and it doesn’t get removed.
There’s a bad smell from the dump, which is not good for our health and it’s also a fire hazard, it has been set alight twice before,” said elderly resident, Frikkie de Beer.
Charlotte Christy Smidt, who has been living there for over 40 years, said it felt like she’s living on top of a rubbish dump.
“It’s no longer a pleasant drive for me to my house, it’s no longer a pleasant view outside my house because all you see is scrap. When we moved here 40 years ago, we had a nice open field that was environmentally friendly and ever since it’s been nothing but empty promises made,” said Smidt.
“As a human being, I have the right to live in a clean environment that’s safe and not a health hazard.”
Smidt said squatters go to the back of the building where they search for recyclables, take drugs, relieve themselves, burn items and even break into nearby properties.
All sorts of trash can be found on the site from household goods, building rubble, scrap metal and other forms of waste.
Smidt claimed that some of the businesses and residents that dump at the site are not even from Ward 54 and do this to escape paying dumping fees.
Rekord reached out to the Tshwane metro and was told that the recent longer-than-three-month strike lies at the heart of the issue.
“Over the past few months, the city has been receiving a lot of complaints regarding the state of the facility, following the disruption of services due to the strike. Operations on-site were badly affected during the strike period and this resulted in a backlog of green waste collection,” said metro spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo.
“The city is however working on addressing the backlog since the resumption of service in October 2023, with the primary aim of restoring operations.”
Mashigo said since the start of a cleaning programme aimed at addressing the backlog, there has been improvement in the state of the site. The volumes of waste are said to be gradually reducing and the state of operations on site is improving, according to the metro.
ALSO READ: East refuse site to temporarily be rehabilitated due to strike mess
The metro stated that the occurrence of water leakages is not related to nor caused by operations taking place on-site.
“The foul stench and unpleasant appearance due to piles of waste will be resolved as soon as the backlog of waste is cleared and the city is working tirelessly to ensure this is achieved in due course,” Mashigo added.
Mashigo also said that the city is not struggling with maintaining its garden waste facilities. He added that closing down the site is not on the cards for the metro.
“No, closing the garden transfer facility will be a disadvantage to the community as they will have nowhere to dump their green waste. With the unavailability of such waste management infrastructure surrounding communities, people tend to either dump their refuse in open spaces and cause illegal dumping or are subject to travel long distances to the nearest landfill sites to dump,” Mashigo said.
MMC for environment and agricultural management Ziyanda Zwane said that his department plans on engaging with the community on the issue.
“We do note the petition but we will advise the community on their benefit from the site because it also helps to lessen the illegal dumping of this garden waste. We will also advise on avenues we are taking as the department to improve the situation,” Zwane said.
The MMC also said that summer burdens operations due to fewer resources and machinery available. From time to time the metro closes each site to clear the backlog where sites overflow.
“Indeed it is true that the garden refuse site in Mountain View is not in a normal state. Due to high volumes of garden waste coming in, the progress on our operations is about 20%.
There are contributing factors:
– These sites were not established for the garden service businesses but for residents, which now is no longer the case.
– The city is investing in operations but there’s little the city is getting from the big users.
The metro stated it plans to address the water leaks before the end of the month.
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