This week officials from the city did a routine inspection of an illegal dumpsite in Umtiza Nature Reserve, where they discovered that a furniture company in Beacon Bay, Wetherlys, had been dumping rubbish illegally.
“Our senior managers randomly, on an irregular basis, accompany field personnel in inspecting illegal dumping hot spots and areas that are prone to illegal dumping,” BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said.
He said on one of the dumps were magazines, wrappings, invoices and catalogues from Wetherlys.
“The addresses point to the business being situated in Beacon Bay, where we ordered the business to clear the area within a specific period as per our bylaws.
“It is very disturbing to find organised businesses, who are in a position to access proper information and know better, being behind such acts,” said Ngwenya.
Wetherlys regional manager Jean Pretorius yesterday said he was not aware of the illegal dumping by some of his employees, but would attend to the matter. He said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that refuse was being dumped at a nature reserve, and ordered that it be taken to a legal dumpsite.
“On the Buffalo Pass we found out there is a lot of dumping taking place, with the main affected areas inside the premises of the Umtiza Nature Reserve,” said Ngwenya. “This is the same area that we had found letters from the Post Office.”
In December the Post Office was found responsible for dumping in the same area. The Post Office apologised and cleaned up its mess.
“As the reserve is not under the maintenance of the city, we had to engage with them. We discovered that the fence was broken and that dumpers were using these to break into and dump in the three large areas inside.
“We have since advised the reserve to fix the fence and beef up security at their gates so as to monitor and search cars. We then instructed them to clear the dumps,” said Ngwenya.
He said the city also found a garden waste refuse dump.
“It must be noted that we have a legal garden refuse dumpsite in West Bank that processes garden waste for free,” said Ngwenya.
Although the main transgressors, BCM said, businesses were not the only ones to blame.
“On the Mdantsane Access Road we have had challenges, especially around informal settlements, where people throw away trash.
“Three weeks ago we undertook a massive cleaning and awareness operation where we cleared areas along the road banks.
“Judging by the state of the areas that we cleaned, these efforts seem to have fallen on deaf ears,” said Ngwenya.
Official dumping sites in the city are:
- Stoney Drift garden transfer station (Amalinda);
- IDZ garden transfer station (West Bank);
- Beacon Bay garden transfer station (Beacon Bay);
- Second Creek general waste site (Parkside); and
- Round Hill general waste site (Berlin).
Source – Daily Dispatch Online
