Residents urged to stay positive during transition

Residents in the east of Pretoria are voicing their concerns about the new door-to-door recycling collection group that seems to have been responsible for recent delays in collection of waste.

Some residents claim they recently had to wait for almost three weeks before their recyclable waste was collected by Waste Group, a Pretoria-based waste management company that recently took over from Waste Plan after they cancelled their services due to a substantial financial loss from inception in 2011.

The service was handed over to Waste Group at the beginning of March and according to some residents it has been anything but smooth sailing since then.

“Under Waste Plan the waste was collected regularly and on time,” a resident from Brummeria said. “But since the hand over, our waste had been lying on the sidewalk waiting for collection before it was finally taken away on Monday.”

The resident reported the incident to Waste Group, who immediately apologised and admitted that there had been some delays.

In a letter to the mentioned resident, Suzette de Jager of Waste Group, stated that they have not received any database or information on the clients they took over. “It seemed that Waste Group somewhat blamed the delay on Waste Plan for not giving them information of the clients,” the resident said.

In response to Rekord’s inquiries Waste Group said they had to start the programme immediately, with limited resources available. In addition, staff had to be trained, areas covered had to be familiarised and trucks had to be allocated and made available.

“The result was that although all intentions were to commence and keep the service levels acceptable – the inevitable learning curve and obtaining of assets had to be endured, resulting in an honest attempt to keep service levels up, although Waste Group has had the expected problems and challenges during this period, which resulted in a lower service level as expected,” Dirk van Niekerk of Waste Group said.

Van Niekerk further said that although the service to the residents is free and the cost of collecting is high, they are appreciative of the enthusiastic recycling efforts from within the community involved and that the common objective is to reduce waste to landfill, recycle and re-use, adopting the global waste hierarchy protocol.

He added that all efforts are being made to improve the service level and urged residents to understand the challenges currently prevailing and to remain positive during the transitional period.

Waste Group services the following areas as follows:

– Mondays – Georgeville, Lydiana (North of N4), Silverton, Silverton ext, Willowpark Manor, Willowbrae, Salieshoek, Brummeria (North Of N4), La Montagne, Silverton Ridge, Val De Grace (North of N4), Meyerspark, Murrayfield, Willowpark.

– Tuesdays – Garsfontein, Garsfontein ext, Garscom, Constantiapark, Rietvleirand, Rietvlei View Country Estate, Grootfontein Country Estate, Erasmuskloof.

– Wednesdays – Brummeria (South Of N4), Die Wilgers, Equestria, Lynnwood Manor, Lynnwood Ridge, Val De Grace (South of N4), Lydiana (South of N4), Navorsdorp.

– Thursdays – Brooklyn, Waterkloof Heights, Waterkloofpark, Waterkloofglen, Menlyn Park, Menlyn, Ashleapark, Groenkloof, Lukasrand, Lynnwood west, Maroelana, Muckleneuk, Alphenpark, Hazelwood, De Beers, Newlands.

– Fridays – Wapadrand, Faerie Glen, Lynnwood Glen, Lynnwood Park, Shere, Lynnrodine.

Residents must note that if for any reason Waste Group were unable to collect on the specific allocated collection day, they must put their bags out on the following collection day. No collections will be done on weekends or on public holidays.