Minnebron residents cry ‘foul’

The Herald has received hordes of complaints from residents since the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality introduced wheelie-bins into the area, about five months ago.

This has resulted in Waste Management Services removing rubbish only from the provided bins.

One resident, Hazel Henning, fears that the suburb will turn into a rubbish dump.

“Over the past few weeks, any refuse bags not in the wheelie bins has not been removed by the refuse collectors, resulting in black bags being left all over the pavements,” she said.

“This, of course, soon turns to refuse being all over the place,as the dogs have a field day with the bags.

“It’s bad enough that we can’t get our post from the post boxes without fear of catching something,because of all the filth there, now our streets are going to look like this too!

“For what are we paying refuse removal fees?”

Many residents have asked this question and some have also complained about the refuse collectors leaving the bins in the middle of the road.

“I’ve seen people almost get into physical fights because of this,” said one resident, who requested not to be named.

“The one thinks the other one has stolen his bin; I know it sounds pathetic and trivial, but that’s how much of an issue this is.”

DA ward councillor for the area Shaune le Roux, who is also a member of the Environment Oversight Committee, told the Herald she was first informed of the metro’s plans to roll out these bins when she happened to overhear the loud hailer announcement.

According to her, the DA is disappointed that the ruling party chose to ignore legal processes and rolled out the new dustbins in Minnebron, Tamboville and Wattville.

For two weeks. both le Roux and the Shadow MMC for Environment, Andre du Plessis, have been trying to get an answer from the metro about the processes involved in this roll-out and to address some of the concerns that have been brought to their attention.

“The introduction of new 240 litre bins will make refuse collection simpler and more efficient for the metro in the long run,” said le Roux.

“However, the DA warned the metro that it did not currently have enough specialised vehicles to service these bins, should one vehicle have a mechanical fault.”

Le Roux believes the problems facing residents could have been pre-empted if the metro had followed its own process and engaged in a comprehensive public participation process.

“The DA will request that the metro institute a grace period, during which black refuse bags would also be collected, allowing residents time to collect the new 240l wheelie bins,” she said.

Le Roux added that other pressing matters needed to be addressed, namely the very poor quality of the bins being supplied and the process for residents to follow if their bins are damaged by the metro trucks or stolen, but the investigations into these questions will take some time and she will report back on any progress made.

The Herald requested comment from the metro and the following response was received from spokesperson Sam Modiba: “It should be noted that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality resolved to roll out the 240l bin system throughout the metro.

“This project started in the middle of June 2013, in Brakpan.

“Waste Management Services did embark on an extensive awareness programme two weeks before the roll-out started, indicating that no additional refuse will be removed from next to the 240l bins.”

According to Modiba, the metro is legislatively bound to apply the following principles in service delivery models and tariff determination:

* A uniform, efficient and effective service delivery model.

* A cost reflective tariff structure.

* The user must pay principle must apply.

“With the roll-out of the 240l bin system all of the above is achieved,” he said.

“Waste Management Services want to call on the various communities to please note that only 240l bins will be removed after the roll-out of the system, and to abide by this.

“In addition to this, the metro did send out a media release explaining the process of the bin distribution.

“This paragraph was included in the release: ‘It is crucial that residents make use of the bins, and not refuse bags, because the trucks that will be used for collection have been fitted with a mechanism that picks up the bin itself, then loads the refuse into the compactor.

‘Households in need of additional bins are advised to apply for them’.”

For any enquiries, residents may contact the metro’s Waste Management Services depot in Benoni, on 011 999 6825 or 011 999 6830.