Illegal dumping causes a stir among residents in Standerton
Throughout the Standerton CBD, one can see piles of rubbish tossed to the streets and public open spaces by unruly residents. Some businesses have a total disregard for the environment and laws.
Standerton has been plagued by illegal dumping, with tens of thousands of tons of waste dumped throughout Lekwa Municipality.
Illegal dumping is a problem that drives most residents up the wall, especially the dumping in public open spaces.
Throughout the Standerton CBD, one can see piles of rubbish tossed to the streets and public open spaces by unruly residents. Some businesses have a total disregard for the environment and laws.
Sakhile resident Amos Mkhwanazi told the Standerton Advertiser that most rubbish tossed in public open spaces comes from business people in the CBD.
Mkhwanazi says some businesses get hired to renovate and clean up properties, but after completing their jobs, they toss their waste material in the open spaces in the informal settlement.
“Some of the stuff they dump in public open spaces is harmful to children who play near these unofficial dumping sites. These include fluorescent lights, waste chemical materials and glass,” explained Mkhwanazi.
He said most dangerous materials are dumped at night while residents are asleep or have locked themselves in their homes.
“The municipality must ensure that by-laws are adhered to, and people found dumping illegally must be heavily fined so that the message of illegal dumping reaches those planning to do so in future.”
Mkhwanazi said residents know they are not supposed to dump in certain places. There are allocated places where residents must dump their rubbish.
“Most choose to dump their rubbish in public places because they do not want to go to allocated dumping sites because it is too far from residential areas, and they end up spending a lot of money on fuel. This is not an excuse. We need to take care of our environment,” said Mkhwanazi.
He added most communities know dumping illegally is not allowed, and nothing further needs to be done except issuing a fine to the perpetrators.
“I hear people saying that there must be some sort of community awareness in educating residents about the dangers of illegal dumping.
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“l say there is no need for awareness or community education because these people know what they are doing. What more do you want to do besides enforcing the by-laws?” said a disgruntled Mkhwanazi.
Lekwa communication manager Lubabalo Majenge said illegal dumping negatively affects the environment and poses health risks to residents, especially to children who play on the illegal dumping sites.
“We have been clearing illegal dumping in our weekly clean-up campaigns. However, the biggest challenge we face is that communities continue dumping, even after we have cleaned up and despite programmes that go concurrently with the clean-up campaign,” said Majenge.
He said there are 55 dumping sites, of which 40 had been cleared.
“The municipality continues to advocate for a clean environment. We urge residents to join the fight against illegal dumping and to ensure the environment is clean for their health and preserving it for future generations.”
