#Letter: Complex waste management issue

Thandi Ngcobo of Palm Lakes Family Estate writes:

The article on ‘Trash buster volunteers clean up Fraser’s’ (February 11) about how a group of community members and organisations rolled up their sleeves to tackle trash in their area, was really heartwarming.

Other similar efforts published by The North Coast Courier in the past include those of Tinley Manor and Ballito residents’ beach clean-ups. I am also aware of this in Groutville.

Your newspaper has also published a number of letters voicing concerns about littering and trash build-up.

That littering continues despite these efforts, highlights unsustainability probably because they are uncoordinated and reach the level of finger pointing.

For example, some of the letters put the blame solely on post-1994 government inefficiencies and ignored other contributory factors.

One such includes the closure of some sugar cane mills, with some landowners subsequently resorting to accommodating informal farming settlements in an effort to close the financial gap left by the closures.

We are all aware of waste management challenges associated with informal settlements.

Unfortunately, the mill owners who had farmed the land paid people stipends without bothering to share farming skills with them. This could have resulted in alternative forms of farming rather than the development of uncontrolled informal settlements.

Soon after relocating to the area four years ago following my retirement, I made some efforts to address the matter, beginning with discussing the issue with councillors in the area I grew up in in Groutville.

One of them told me I was barking up the wrong tree and should instead approach the municipal waste manager. The manager never responded to my email.

Other individuals I approached included the director of KwaDukuza Community Services and a principal of one of the schools in the area – with no success.

What is clear is that waste management in our area is complex and requires coordinated activities to ensure sustainability.

Perhaps such efforts should begin with an indaba involving concerned and available community members, appropriate KwaDukuza Municipality officials, businesses, NGOs and specialists.

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