Illegal dumping in the east of Pretoria continues unabated.
Dumping in Delmas Road near the De Villebois Mareuil Drive crossing was a sore point last year too and beyond. In 2015 Rekord trucks regularly dumped building rubble on the site.
A local resident said trucks arrived as early as 07:00. “It is completely unacceptable. Though this angers me, I completely understand it. The lack of dumpsites in Pretoria drives this problem.”
It was previously reported that the only legal dump site in the area, Garstkloof, was forced closed because it was overflowing leaving the Heatherley dump site in Mamelodi, as the closest legal dump for the residents.
Ward councillor Reyaan Uys said in a statement in 2016 there was a major need for more legal dumping sites. “I’ve heard people using excuses like Heatherly was too far away and raising the safety aspect of the dump site.”
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MMC for environmental affairs Michael Mkhari said the Tshwane metro had five authorised landfill sites – Onderstepoort, Heatherley, Soshanguve, Ga-Rankuwa and Bronkhorstspruit and two privately-owned ones Mooiplaats in Stoneridge and Bon Accord.
Mkhari previously said the city had strengthened its bylaws to better fight illegal dumping and developing waste disposal infrastructure such as the Kwaggasrand waste disposal facility. Also, households that used to rely on smaller waste bins are being provided with bigger ones to accommodate their waste storage needs.
Uys said on Monday the problem at the Delmas road “dump site” was still ongoing.
“I am waiting to see how the extended public works programme will be incorporated and how the workers will be deployed to clean the site.
“The problem of availability of landfill sites, however still remains. Policing of the illegal dumping sites is also problematic.”
The Tshwane metro acknowledged receiving the enquiry and was working on a response.
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