INLSA

BEV Fowles makes light of a growing problem in the Highway area where residents are dumping waste illegally. Picture: Colleen Dardagan

Fed-up with residents who abuse facilities built for recycling in the outer west, local volunteers say they are now set to start punitive measures against lawless litterbugs.

Bev Fowles, who runs the Kloof Recycling Centre and is a member of the Keep Kloof Beautiful Association, said the centre, at the old Civic Centre in Emolweni Road, was being abused by locals who dumped “crappy nappies, vrot meat and vrot fish” instead of recyclables such as glass, cans, paper and plastic.

“This place was pristine when we opened it. Former mayor Obed Mlaba was here for that. But since then, people have just abused it. Since the surveillance camera we installed was smashed and stolen, we are now taking people’s car registration numbers, and if they bring building rubble or orange bags which don’t have just paper and plastic in them, we will fine them – the by-laws allow for that,” she said.

Jill Noyce, ward councillor in the outer west, said she was appalled by the behaviour of residents who lived in areas where they should know better.

“The council is trying to introduce the two-bag system: black bags for wet waste and orange bags for dry waste. Residents must know that Durban Solid Waste (DSW) will not collect orange bags that have garden refuse, or any waste, other than plastic and paper, in them.”

Fowles also expressed concern over the number of residents who included “highly toxic” low-energy light bulbs in the orange bags.

BEV Fowles tells Forest Hills resident Margaret Bailey what she can and cannot recycle at the Kloof Recycling centre. Picture: Colleen Dardagan

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“There are special depots at Pick n Pay for those,” she said.

The eThekwini municipality’s collection system has been in the spotlight of late as some Durban residents say that the orange bags, which should contain only polystyrene, tetrapak (milk cartons), milk sachets, polypropylene – yoghurt and ice cream containers – and paper are not being collected.

Residents have also questioned why garden waste – disposed of in blue bags – is dumped with general pavement collections.

Glenwood resident Mary de Haas, who said she complied with the rules, wrote to The Mercury complaining that collections during the festive season did not happen and the quality of the orange bags handed to residents was poor.

“I run out of orange bags before new ones are delivered. The last pack of orange bags was of such poor quality, they split.”

De Haas also questioned why collections of orange bags were not carried out over the festive season.

“If private contractors can work over the Christmas/new year period why can Mondi, which is being paid by ratepayers, not do so?”

Neeri Moodley, spokesman for DSW, confirmed that orange bag collections were stopped over the Christmas period, but gave the late notification of the closure of the Teakwood depot as the reason.

“We have notified Mondi, now known as Mpact, about the problems to avoid it ever happening again,” she said.