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More communities take back their areas from illegal dumping

The City’s Urban Waste Management (UWM) and Community Services and Health (CSH) Directorate are partnering with communities to transform illegal dumping hotspots into clean and beautiful spaces that can be enjoyed by residents.

The City of Cape Town continues to struggle against illegal dumping throughout our communities. Despite hundreds of millions of rands being poured into clearing illegally dumped waste, residents continue to dump their waste at almost 3 000 'hotspots' across the metro. This money could be spent on new infrastructure or programmes to uplift residents, but instead it must be used to pick up waste that is damaging the health and well-being of our City. <figure><img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/Beautification%20projects%201.jpeg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:1069px;" /> </figure> One way to address this behaviour, which is showing some promising results, is beautification of dumping hotspots. Currently UWM is working with the Recreation and Parks Department from CSH, and community members, to transform dumping hotspots around the city into community gardens with indigenous plants. The latest sites that benefitted are: <ul><li>Ward 25 – Galway Street, Connaught</li><li>Ward 26 - Corners of Halt Road/Hugo Street and Voortrekker Road, Elsies River.</li></ul>'When residents are involved in these efforts it normally gets better results, as residents have put their own blood, sweat and tears into cleaning up the area, and they don't want to see others ruin their hard work. If residents are able to help keep the site clean for long enough, those who dump will be forced to make another plan for their waste. Together we need to make it inconvenient for those who dump, so they are forced to make the effort to use City services. If everyone is making the effort to use City services we can all enjoy cleaner, healthier and more prosperous communities,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg. <figure> <img src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/Beautification%20projects%202.jpeg" class="responsive" alt="" style="width:1069px;" /> </figure> Residents and community groups who would like to explore possible partnerships to reduce dumping within their areas are encouraged to make contact with the Events and Partnerships team at <a href="mailto:SolidWaste.Events@capetown.gov.za">SolidWaste.Events@capetown.gov.za</a>.The Recreation and Parks Department undertakes a key role in nurturing community-driven collaborations through formal agreements with 'Friends groups', facilitating ongoing development and maintenance efforts for the City's parks. To officially establish Friends of Parks groups or to gain further insights into this initiative, residents and community groups are encouraged to contact David Dunn at <a href="mailto:David.Dunn@capetown.gov.za">David.Dunn@capetown.gov.za</a>.Although there are no guarantees that resources will be available for beautification projects at the time of contact, your details will be kept on file for when future partnership opportunities arise. This could involve beautification or another kind of intervention. The City provides a weekly refuse collection service to both formal and recognised informal households. To prevent illegal dumping, property owners with backyarders or tenants must apply for extra bins if their tenant's weekly waste makes their wheelie bin overflow before collection day. The additional bin will be charged at the standard tariff, to cover increased costs associated with servicing the property. End

2023-12-20T22:00:00Z

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