All waste removal backlogs in Kempton Park should be cleared by Sunday.
This is according to Alderman André du Plessis, shadow MMC environmental development, following a lengthy meeting with the waste department on Thursday.
Present at the meeting were the DA councillors in Kempton Park, the Ekurhuleni COO and his team, including the HOD for environment and waste management.
Du Plessis said the COO and his team had been working actively on the ground for the past six weeks in order to identify exactly where and why these continual weekly backlogs originate from.
“They have compiled a comprehensive programme which they will be implementing over a period of time,” Du Plessis said.
The following resolutions were agreed upon:
Immediate
Stricter discipline and more efficient management at the Kempton Park depot on a daily basis with proper daily, weekly and monthly planning.
They will endeavour to clear all backlogs by no later than Sunday, July 1 and start with a clean slate on Monday, July 2, according to the published schedules.
Only wheelie bins will be collected from Monday, July 2.
The waste department is now linked to the call centre and residents can report non-collection of bins to 086 054 3000 and obtain a reference number.
The depot will communicate daily with councillors to inform them of any anticipated backlogs due to a shortage of staff or vehicles. The depot will also communicate daily which backlog areas will be done on which days.
The supervisors in the teams will be tasked to monitor performance on a daily basis and keep in constant contact with the depot manager who, in turn, will communicate to councillors any problems and possible time constraints which may lead to backlogs.
Short term
A tender is in place to obtain additional trucks from outside contractors on an as and when basis in order to assist in cases of emergencies and unforeseen circumstances.
During July revised and updated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be initiated and implemented in order to streamline routes and schedules.
In order to prevent backlogs in Kempton Park all surrounding depots will be linked with daily communication in order to support each other, for example, if Bedfordview or Edenvale teams finish early they will assist where needed.
Rain will create backlogs and so will breakdowns.
The supervisors of the teams will monitor, communicate and liaise on a daily basis.
The teams will receive further training to emphasise efficiency and productivity.
The department is currently busy with a comprehensive study to audit the exact quantity of pick-up points per truck per scheduled day. This should be finalised by the end of July and will indicate if some depots have fewer pick-up points to service per day while others have more.
This data will be analysed and extra capacity will be allocated to the needy depots. For example, if Alberton have 15 trucks but only do 900 houses per day and Kempton Park have 11 trucks but do 1 200 houses per day, some trucks from Alberton will be moved to Kempton Park.
Teams will be rotated every six months.
Medium term
The depot wants to do away with overtime. Negotiations with the human resources department and labour unions will be initiated.
The department is working on a waste minimisation policy to be rolled out towards the end of the year. Recycling will become essential.
Long-term
Within the next three years, more vehicles will be procured to create spare capacity in case of breakdowns.
A waste minimisation and recycling policy will be fully implemented.
