Sandown clean-up drive removes mountains of waste from Sandspruit River

Sandown residents, local councillors and volunteers rolled up their sleeves on Sunday morning to clean up the Sandspruit River greenbelt after a group of illegal recyclers vacated the space last week.

Armed with gloves, shovels, rakes, refuse bags and litter pickers, volunteers spent hours clearing large amounts of waste and debris from the riverine area and filled about 300 refuse bags.

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The clean-up forms part of ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the greenbelt, which in recent years has been plagued by illegal dumping, informal recycling operations and environmental degradation.

Resident Jill Hagley said the recyclers, who had been sorting waste in the area, moved out last week following engagements with the City of Johannesburg and the local councillors.

“The message that I want to give residents is be very careful of what you put out on your pavement for refuse collection. It lands up down here at riverine areas, spoiling them completely.

The volunteers are actually cleaning up a really dirty space, which is our rubbish that we’ve just put out on the pavement, happy to see it gone, but we have no idea where it has gone.”

She added that as residents, they are working on transforming the neglected space into a usable green park for residents.

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“We started a group called the Sandspruit Environmental Renewal Initiative. It is a non-profit company, it’s registered. We want to fence off this area so that there isn’t access to it and then we can really turn it into a park. Please help us by donating, we will put details on the WhatsApp groups.”

Ward 103 councillor Lynda Shackleford and 91 councillor Andrew Stewart said Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo has been working with councillors and residents to address the situation.

“This is a lovely open space area which over the course of the last two to three years has been, if you want to call it, hijacked by recyclers and also unfortunately with illegal dumping.

“But we pulled together an entire team of City Parks in Joburg and they’ve been working tirelessly with us, specifically in the last month. And also the community of Sandown have pulled together, also a great team, and everyone’s coming together now to clear up this area,” Shackleford said.

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Stewart added, “As you can see by taking a look around here today, there’s a lot of dumping, there’s a lot of vagrancy, and there’s a general lack of maintenance and respect for this green space. In a city the size of Johannesburg, it gets difficult to try and keep up with the maintenance required, which is why communities stepping in like this is essential.”

Stewart also thanked the volunteer group, Aseza WAO, a young adult volunteer organisation from the World Mission Society Church of God, for their continued partnership in environmental initiatives.

@caxtonjoburgnorth Sandown residents, local councillors and volunteers from Aseza WAO clean up the Sandspruit River greenbelt as part of an ongoing effort to rehabilitate the space, which in the past few years has been plagued by illegal dumping and a group of informal recyclers who vacated the space last week. Video: Xoliswa Zakwe #Localnews #caxtonlocalmedia #johannesburg #2026 #Communitynews #SA #newsupdate #Sandton ♬ original sound Caxton Joburg North

Thobela Toyi, the group coordinator said, “We are very glad to be here today to clean this environment and also protect this area.

We hope this inspires the community also to have a sense of ownership, just like these volunteers, and take care of this environment for the happiness and benefit of future generations.”

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