Upper Highway residents claim landfill smell returns
The waste management giant, EnviroServ has denied the claims.
JUST weeks after EnviroServ was convicted at the Durban Magistrate’s Court for the for the contravention of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004 (NEM: AQA), Upper Highway residents have made numerous reports claiming the smell has returned.
Since mid January this year, the Upper Highway – What’s that Smell? Facebook page has become a hive of activity as residents continue to report a ‘stink’.
EnviroServ, South Africa’s largest waste management company, was convicted in the Durban Regional Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 14 December and was handed a fine of R4 million, R2 million payable now and R2 million suspended for three years.
“If EnviroServ is found guilty of infringement in the next three years, the R2 million suspended becomes payable,” said the Upper Highway Air NPC’s Lauren Johnson.
The company also had to reimburse the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) for R1.2 million, while the Upper Highway Air non-profit company (UHA NPC) was awarded R1.2 million in damages and costs in pursuing the case.
ALSO READ: FULL REPORT: EnviroServ convicted on charges of violating environmental and air quality regulations
According to Michelle Mostert, a Gillitts resident and a member of the Upper Highway Air monitoring committee, the odour is channelled through the hills and valley when there is South Westerly wind.
“Residents from Hillcrest, Gillitts and Kloof will smell it. So it’s our summer weather at its worst. It was really bad a couple of nights ago as it woke me up,” she said.
Johnson said, “It is now up to the community to let the authorities know if they are still smelling the EnviroServ smell and to make their representations on the monitoring committee. The monitoring committee is legislated and should be the platform for EnviroServ to be held accountable.”
The committee encouraged Upper Highway residents to continue reporting the smell and that reports could be made via the app, available on the relevant app stores by searching ‘Upper Highway Air’. Alternatively, residents can report the problem at www.upperhighwayair.co.za.
The EnviroServ CEO, Dean Thompson, said that extensive monitoring, both on and off-site, has continued to affirm that the company’s extensive remediation plan has been successful and that odours are contained.
“The plan, which was approved and implemented together with the relevant authorities, included gas extraction, treatment and flaring, capping of the front face and ongoing treatment. We continue to engage with both the authorities and communities in this regard, sharing the monitoring data, providing access to the monitors and doing complaints investigations, the reports of which are shared with the authorities.”
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
