A COLLABORATIVE team effort, involving Green Corridors, TriEcoEmvelo and the eThekwini Municipality’s Cleansing and Solid Waste, saw a major clean-up of the Roadhouse Crescent recycling area under the Connaught Bridge underpass undertaken last week with more than 420 bags of waste removed.

This area, which has been used as an illegal dumping ground for a long time, has been adopted by Green Corridors in an endeavour to clean it up and support the informal recyclers so they can derive an income from their collections.

The two-day clean-up also marked the adoption and formalising of the collection of waste as a materials recycling facility (MRF) for the Roadhouse Crescent recyclers.

Jonathan Welch, technical consultant and project manager of the Green Corridors’ KwaMashu Materials Beneficiation Centre (KMBC), said he was blown away by the efforts of everyone involved.

Also read: Neglected space turns into organised recycling hub in Umgeni Park

“The speed with which it all happened was quite impressive. I think, within the first few hours, we had already filled large Tuffbags of waste. This clean-up and the support shown really reiterated how a unified commitment can be a catalyst for change. Now that the area the recyclers use has been cleaned, we will complete the demarcation of the perimeter fencing and shoe-up access control to the site.

“That means, in part, controlling what material comes in here. Over the years, we have had so many non-recyclable materials, including household rubbish, illegally dumped here. We want to control the access and have a list of rules of what is permitted on site in order to create a functioning effective system that will benefit the community and the recyclers,” he said.

Siphiwe Rakgabale, the Green Corridors’ litter-boom and clean-up coordinator, said the vision was to clean up the site for the community.

“Our collective vision is seeing the community bringing their recyclable material here and feeling safe in this space. We’ve formalised the area by putting in sorting bays for various collections, including paper, cardboard and plastic. We even have a baling machine which helps compact the waste for easier collection. We want to let the community know that we don’t take household items, however, if they have recyclable items, we welcome them dropping those items off should they choose. We want to foster a relationship with residents,” he said.

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