This week there has been several reports of rubbish being collected late, and illegal dumping taking place.
Over the weekend of July 18 to July 19 a Klipfontein resident apparently noticed a bakkie carrying garbage bags on two occasions. She apparently saw the driver and his passenger unload the bags and leave them in a spot near the dam’s edge. She has reported the incident to Theo van Vuuren.
A commenter on the Facebook post said, “Shocking. Where are the days when people were fined. No wonder our beautiful country looks like it does. Shame on you for throwing your rubbish away at a dam. Dumping sites are there for a reason.”
The question is why do people resort to illegal dumping when we have a municipal garbage collection system in place? According to an article published in the Government Gazette in 2009 about setting a standard for waste collection it stipulates, “It must be easier for households to recycle than not to recycle, e.g. kerbside collection, drop off centres within easy reach and well kept mainstream recyclables should therefore be collected at households or communal collection points. Other less frequent recyclables need clearly marked drop-off centres at well advertised locations.
Acknowledging that waste minimisation is encouraged; the frequency of waste collection shall not encourage illegal dumping or cause a nuisance in terms of odours and volumes of waste being stored.”
Illegal dumping does come with some harsh penalties to those who are found guilty but the government does have a system in place to discourage illegal dumping. However this system is based on an effective waste removal program and the co-operation from the community which seems lacking from both sides.
It is our individual responsibility to take excess waste to the city landfill and not dump it in an illegal location for the sake of convenience.
The article goes on to say, “Waste deposited at communal collection points must be collected within 24 hours of receptacles being reported as full or at regular intervals so as not to attract vermin and cause health impacts.” Public dustbins are a dime a dozen in eMalahleni but is seems few are regularly emptied and maintained every 24 hours. The spokesperson continued, “We acknowledge the slow and inconsistent waste removal happening around the city. We have been experiencing a high number of vehicle breakdowns leading to a shortage in the waste removal fleet however we are collecting waste and working on speeding up the recovery of damaged removal trucks. We request for your patience and co-operation in wrapping and storing waste accordingly for the council officials to collect when possible to do so.”
Unofficially low income workers from Spring Valley and the 500 residents living around the city landfill itself rely heavily on collected recyclable material to sell. Without an official recycle programme they are left to search plastic bags on collection day to sell to one of a handful of private recycling businesses in the city. Driving through Tzaneen in Limpopo the first things an eMalahleni resident will notice is the orange bags lying next to the black waste bags on collection day as their municipality has implemented an official recycling program. Even driving through Middelburg our close neighbour, will reveal a stark contrast as municipal trucks can be seen early in the morning cleaning out public dustbins every day of the week.
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