Waste recycling firm steps in while site stays closed
KENTON-On-Sea residents are concerned that Ndlambe Municipality has overlooked their needs once again – this time in dealing with waste disposal.
Despite a structural interdict by the Grahamstown High Court ordering the municipality to resolve the problems at the Bushman’s River/Marselle landfill site and to report to the court on progress every 90 days, the tip remains closed.
Household rubbish is being collected and taken to the dump in Port Alfred.
Residents have expressed concern about the increased logistical costs resulting in greater municipal spending, higher rates and taxes and an inefficient use of public resources.
Integrated Waste and Recycling Services (IWARS) project implementer, Kevin Lee, said IWARS no longer received recycled waste from the dump, and the casuals who used to work at the dump were now unemployed.
Lee said IWARS has a buy-back centre in the open lot next to the Spar where people are bringing their recyclables. In addition, the municipality has mooted the two bag system, said Lee. Householders can separate their trash into two bags, one bag for general rubbish and a see-through bag for recycled materials.
IWARS has agreed with the municipality to collect recyclables but, in order to make it sustainable, more residents need to make use of the system.
The two bag system has also been mooted for Port Alfred. The municipality collects the two bags and takes them to the dump site where it is easier for workers to separate recyclables. Yet, only cans and plastics can be separated in this way. When recycleables and household refuse are compacted together cardboard cannot be separated.
In Bushman’s IWARS collects about 60 tons of recyclables per month and, in Port Alfred about 90 tons. At the Port Alfred tip where Kenton rubbish is being taken, workers are able to separate cardboard, cans and plastic and sell them to IWARS.Low value plastics are shredded and sold for use as polytimber, and high value plastics can be reused to make new PET bottles. Glass and cardboard are similarly resold.
Kenton residents are also concerned because the skips in the Spar parking lot have been removed after residents objected that they were unsightly. Kenton-on-Sea Ratepayers Association (KOSRA) chairman Simon Oliver said the municipality closed the dump site after the high court case judgement.
“We would love to have a comprehensive recycling plan from IWARS that we can circulate to the community”, said Olivier.
Asfar as IWARS is concerned, more people are recycling waste, but more needs to be done to be sustainable in Kenton-Bushmans.
In the interim, Lee said that residents can take glass to the IWARS recycling shed in the industrial area at Bushmans River Extension until the issue is resolved. Residents can place their glass in the big green bags at the back of the lot. IWARS is waiting for word from the municipality as to where the skips will be placed.