Wheelie bins: R66m needed

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality needs at least R66m to replace missing and damaged wheelie bins across the metro.

And if the metro replaces all the wheelie bins meant to be used by 139,000 households, it would need about R76m.

The public health department has proposed that residents pay for the wheelie bins in their areas.

It is unclear how the payments would be billed.

Due to the high costs of replacing the bins, the municipality is now considering doing away with them and reverting to black refuse bags.

Some councillors rejected this proposal, arguing that the use of the plastic bags would not be environmentally friendly.

The city’s public health department presented the completed wheelie bin survey to the public health committee on Tuesday.

The survey revealed that more than 139,000 households were meant to be using the bins across the metro.

However, 53,000 households do not have one. The survey does not include new developments.

In the report, public health acting executive director Tsietsi Mokonenyane said the shortage could be attributed to, among other factors, residents not looking after bins allocated to them; aggressive handling of the bins by municipal staff; and bins exceeding their realistic life span.

Mokonenyane wrote that replacing the bins at R550 each would cost the metro R66.668.800.

“The cost of the replacement is excessive and, if affordable at all, will have to be phased in over [a number of] years,” Mokonenyane wrote.

He further noted that phasing in the replacement of the bins would result in the bins in use deteriorating even more.

“Due to the abuse of wheelie bins by residents, the replacement will become a vicious and never-ending cycle.

“The replacement should therefore be for the residents’ own account, as is the case in other metropolitan municipalities.

“This would encourage the residents to look after their wheelie bins,” he wrote.

ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said making residents pay would be unfair.

The matter was debated at a public health portfolio committee meeting on Tuesday.

“These wheelie bins are used to transport rubbish [for] illegal dumping, in crimes and also to carry alcohol,” Grootboom said.

“I am not sure if these bins have assisted us as a city. Replacing them is going to cost the municipality a lot of money that it does not have.”

Grootboom said the bins were not serving their purpose in the different areas.

ANC councillor Nontuthuzelo Sikweyiya was concerned that reverting to black bags would worsen the situation in the townships as animals tore refuse bags.

“I cannot agree with using plastic bags [as] we have stray animals and they are destroying the black bags.

“This is going to affect the environment once more,” Skweyiya said.

DA councillor Abraham Isaacs said residents needed to be educated on illegal dumping and correct use of the bins.

“We as the municipality must sit down and inform our communities,” Isaacs said.

“Do we have challenges in the municipality when it comes to refuse collection?

“We need to sit down and develop a plan to solve this,” Isaacs said.