Frustrations rise as Glanville Rd dumpsite goes from bad to worse

THE excessive litter pollution, social and security issues surrounding the Glanville Road Garden Refuse Site in Montclair have apparently gone from bad to worse.

This is word from ward 64 councillor, Gavin Hegter, whose frustrations are growing by the day regarding the matter.

“This problem has been ongoing and very little has been done to address it. The dumping outside of the facility is worsening. We need to work at finding a long term solution before the frustration in the community boils over,” Hegter said in an email thread, seen by the SUN, to various municipal department heads which he has been engaging with to roll out a project to improve the state of the facility.

He also shared that he received information that drugs are being sold in the area in question by a group of men identified as “pickers” who can often be seen just outside the dumpsite. The group is made up of mostly men looking for odd work or to make money by assisting residents offload their rubbish at the facility, which they also use as an opportunity to collect scrap to sell off.

“This not a new issue, but it has progressively worsened in that the number of pickers has steadily increased. I believe that this is a result of more people seeing the opportunity together with the fact that it has become easier for the pickers to sell their goods. There are now scrap collectors that visit the site every afternoon and purchase the goods. This is a very difficult matter to address and can only be done if all relevant departments get involved,” said Hegter.

In a proactive approach to help address the matter, he held a meeting with stakeholders from various relevant departments including law enforcement and Durban Sold Waste (DSW) in May in efforts to find solutions to this problem.

He shared that the departments agreed that this would be tackled in a multipronged approach. An educational programme was also to be implemented. However, almost four months later, no noticeable action has taken place. Instead, the community has expressed their dissatisfaction at how the municipal facility has become an eyesore as well as a social, security and environmental concern.

“As a councillor, I have engaged with these departments in an effort to get them to work together to find a lasting solution. Sadly the response from most of the departments has not been positive. The departments that have been requested to address this are DSW including DSW’s garden refuse site management, education, law enforcement and cleansing departments. Other stakeholders are the Parks Department, Safer Cities, Metro Police and SAPS.

“Sadly, the efforts from these departments have been very poor. I have continually warned the officials that the residents are tired of this and it is only a matter of time before the situation reaches boiling point and an avoidable confrontation takes place,” said Hegter.

Comment from eThekiwni Municipality was not available by the time of going to print.