Bid to weed out illegal dumping in eMdloti

DUMPING garden refuse in a wildlife habitat is arguably just as detrimental as dumping plastic waste and litter. Manager for the Umdloti UIP, Terry Rens explained that garden refuse often leads to an influx of alien invasive plants which chokes the indigenous foliage and robs the area of precious water.

“First of all it is illegal to dump your refuse and secondly it causes a problem because alien plants grow. It’s a massive problem. The reason why we focus so much on alien invasive removal is because these plants have a huge impact on our environment. We are trying to support an eco system right from tiniest ant up the biggest tree and if we don’t support a full eco system it doesn’t work,” she said.

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Hlengiwe Luthuli, founder of an environmental management company by the same name (HLEM) said she has about 16 staff currently working to remove alien invaders along Main Road in eMdloti.

“Common plants that we remove are Chromolaena, Lantana, Canna plants and pepper trees,” she said.
Residents who want to remove garden refuse have options.

“If residents don’t want to pay a company to collect their garden refuse, there is the Mount Edgecombe Garden Refuse Site nearby, which is free to use or the eThekwini Municipality service which is factored into the cost of the blue bags. There’s no excuse for dumping,” said Rens.
Neeri Moodley of Durban Solid Waste (DSW) said the garden refuse removal is an additional service to the homeowner and is not linked to the domestic refuse service provided by DSW.

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“The DSW Blue Garden Bag has been developed, and priced based on costs pertaining to the production of bags, cost of disposal at a licensed landfill site, cost of transportation, and delivery and merchandising costs, such that environmental standards are met. DSW Blue Garden Bags are identified by the DSW and eThekwini logo.”
The blue bags are available at retail chain stores, service stations, municipal offices, nurseries, and DSW will also deliver directly to the customer on a monthly contract.

For more information call the DSW Helpline on 031 311 8804.

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