UPDATE: The plight of trolley pushers on the road
RANDBURG – Joburg's waste management bylaws state that recyclers and waste collectors should be registered with the council.
It seems the plight of trolley pushers on the roads of Johannesburg will not come to an end at any time soon.
The City of Joburg’s 2013 waste and management bylaws stipulate certain procedures for transporting waste in the streets of Johannesburg.
According to this bylaw, no person may undertake to collect, transport, sort, store, re-use, recycle or recover waste with the intention of making a profit unless they are registered with the city council.
The bylaw also stipulates:
- The vehicle body must be of an adequate size and construction for the type of waste being transported
- The vehicle must be maintained in a clean, sanitary and roadworthy condition
- Loose waste must be covered with a tarpaulin or suitable net
- No waste is allowed to become detached, leak or fall from a vehicle, except at the waste facility
- Waste must be transformed in a manner that doesn’t cause a nuisance or environmental pollution
- If spillage does occur, the transporter must clean up the spilled contents.
Pikitup is yet to respond to Randburg Sun’s query whether the trolley pushers should be registered with the council before they start collecting refuse for recycling.
This plight came to light when a trolley pusher was knocked over by a motorist in Malanshof earlier last month.
Read: Trolley pushers are allowed on the road too
Metro police spokesperson Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said at the time that the National Road Traffic Act does not prohibit trolley pushers from pulling their trollies on the road.
According to Ward 117 Councillor Tim Truluck, there were about four times as many trolley pushers in and around the new recycling centre close to Victory Road Pikitup Garden Site.
“I would suggest that they try and determine a pattern of use and report that,” he said.”Many recyclers sleep around in the suburbs and in parks and the greenbelt along the Braamfontein Spruit,” he said.
Truluck advised that in theory trolley pushers could be reported on the Metro police hotline 080 872 3342.
Also read: Sharonlea monitors recyclers
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