Bellville CBD gets a clean-up

13 May 2016

During a recent business survey conducted by the City’s Economic Development Department, businesses in the area cited litter on the streets of the Bellville CBD as an area of concern. Businesses felt that this created the impression of an unsafe business area, resulting in customers, tourists and new investors avoiding the area.

Community volunteers get involved

The first intervention to address concerns in the area took place last week – a clean-up operation on Friday 6 May 2016. After a short welcome by the Chairperson of Subcouncil 6, Alderman Clive Justus, a team of 125 volunteers got down to the cleaning job at hand.

‘We welcome the clean-up initiative of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership (GTP) and private sector partners to highlight the need for a clean CBD in which to work, live and shop. Waste material, including materials for recycling and small quantities of builders’ rubble can be taken to the closest drop-off site and disposed of free of charge. I call on residents to use the City’s ample facilities and not to dump refuse or litter indiscriminately. We should all strive to leave a better environment than what we found,’ said Alderman Justus.

Waste collection and disposal

The teams set out to declare war on waste from Voortrekker Road to the train station and from Durban Road to the taxi rank. A phenomenal 315 kg of waste was collected, including:

65 kg of tins and glass
45 kg of plastic bottles
187 kg of cardboard, paper and organic food waste
18 kg of non-recyclable plastics were collected and turned into 52 eco-bricks.

Two Bokashi composting containers were filled with organic food waste and donated to the Dunatos Remedial School in Bellville for their food garden (a Bokashi container is a specially designed organic food waste container with a decomposing powder). wo Bokashi composting containers were filled with organic food waste and donated to the Dunatos Remedial School in Bellville for their food garden (a Bokashi container is a specially designed organic food waste container with a decomposing powder).

The eco-bricks were sent to the Tyger Youth Ambassador Programme – a youth engagement programme administrated by Greater Tygerburger Partnership to develop innovative skills.

Community partnerships bolster clean-up effort

‘I must commend local businesses and the GTP who stepped up to the plate and partnered with the City for this initiative. If we share the responsibility, we all stand to benefit from the positive results. This is the only way to make progress possible, by working in collaboration,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Economic Development, Councillor Garreth Bloor.

Companies such as Addis contributed brooms, dust pans and waste bags, while others like Mould Empower and Serve sent a team of volunteers to help with the clean-up. The Voortrekker Road Corridor Improvement District provided wheelie bins and transported the waste to the recycling centre.

‘The clean-up forms part of a comprehensive approach that is being developed to address the issues highlighted in the business survey and will be done twice a year,’ added Councillor Bloor.

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