Ward 103 councillor Lynda Shackelford has warned that the Pikitup Bryanston garden refuse site is struggling to cope with the growing waste volumes following a temporary closure of the Pikitup Woodmead garden refuse site for renovations.
During a site visit on March 6, Shackelford said the Bryanston facility, which was designed primarily to serve nearby residents disposing of garden refuse, small amounts of recycling and limited rubble, is now struggling to cope with a sharp increase in waste volumes.
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“The small dump site is mainly for the residents in the surrounding area to come and bring their garden refuse and very small recyclable loads, a tiny bit of rubble from homes,” she said.
“The problem is, since they closed the Woodmead dumping site for renovations, which is going to take eight months, all the residents from that side, instead of going to Cedar and Linbro Park, are also coming here.”
She added that the increase in landscapers using the site as well is becoming a massive issue. She noted that waste removal from the site is not keeping pace with the volume of loads being dropped off.
During a site visit earlier in the week, she observed that only a limited number of loads had been declared. “On Tuesday [March 3], when I was here, they had only managed to get five loads out, and already that area they cleared is full up. Pikitup management needs to come to this dump. They need to help the guys on the ground here.”
She explained that operational pressures at the dumping site are not new. She said the site began closing earlier in 2023 due to difficulties managing the volume of waste and transporting it to landfill sites.
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“In 2023, we decided that the dump would close at 15:00 going forward because they couldn’t manage the loads and the loads getting to the landfills, and now it’s just getting worse. You’ll also see in the afternoons, residents and landscapers are dumping the rubbish outside the dump or above the dump because they just have nowhere else to go.”
Shackelford warned that the situation could worsen further, particularly with ongoing rainfall and continued demand from residents needing to dispose of garden.
“The dump is even closing on certain days due to space unavailability because of the large volumes of waste on site. More residents are going to come out with loads and nowhere to go. We again have rain, we again have issues.
“We need Pikitup to come up with a solution. We need Pikitup to tell us how they are going to manage this,” she concluded.
The publication reached out to Pikitup spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi for a comment, and updates will be provided once they become available.
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