Cape Town - The relationship Capetonians have with waste and its disposal has come under the spotlight after a mass of unexpected solid waste, which ranged from mattresses and trolleys to car parts and construction material, was dredged from the Black River by the City this week.
Despite there being dumping facilities across the city, people neglected to dispose of their large solid waste materials at appropriate sites and rather dumped them in the waterways – which posed both a human and environmental health concern.
“Though it was abhorrent to find a variety of household items in the river, the City should look to upgrade its own waste management policies.
“Having only 27 dump sites for a City of over 4 million people is the root of the problem,” said Stop CoCT founder and Cape Town activist Sandra Dickson.
Dickson said some of these dump sites were up to 15km from residents’ homes and a good start to addressing this would be to have a 24-hour attended skip service in all wards.
Urban Waste Management Mayco member Grant Twigg gave some insight into what was behind this defiance, whether it was from people not being educated on dumping facilities, unable to use dumping facilities or simply City resistance.
This came as residents called for more easily accessible dumping facilities.
“In some cases, littering and dumping is viewed as job creation. These beliefs have very deep roots, and for this reason, campaigns around illegal dumping are struggling to achieve widespread behaviour change,” Twigg said.
Although residents could use the City’s drop-off sites for free, Twigg said these sites were not conveniently accessible for those that did not have cars - which thus may have also contributed to dumping
“The City believes that the current level of services are sufficient if used correctly, but we are intending to experiment with different models of waste management and collection during our term of office in case this can have a positive impact. More news in this regard will follow in coming months,” Twigg said.
Waste-ED founder Candice Mostert said, “People need to understand how to use public waste systems and manage their own waste at home for both local and national benefit. Simple communications on waste systems from the City would go a long way.”