LOUISE KNOWLES
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 that IWARS no longer receives recycled waste from the dump, and that 134 casuals who used to work at the dump are now unemployed.
Lee said IWARS now relies completely on the two bag system that was recently implemented. Household trash must be separated into one bag for general refuse and a different transparent bag for recyclable materials, which must also be clean and dry in order to be recycled and must not contain glass.
The two-bag system is already working in Kenton and Port Alfred, Lee said. IWARS collects recyclable materials from Bushman’s every Monday and from Kenton on Tuesday or Wednesday. They follow the same routes as the municipal trucks and only pick up the clear bags.
Lee said IWARS collects about 60 tons per month in Kenton and Bushman’s and about 90 tons from households in Port Alfred.
At the tip in Port Alfred, people are able to separate cardboard and plastic and sell it to IWARS, which compacts and sells the recycled waste.
Low value plastics such as see-through packages are shredded and sold for use as polytimber, whereas high value plastics such as PET can be reused to make new PET bottles. Glass is similarly sold for reuse and cardboard is resold to SAPPI.
Kenton residents also expressed concern that the glass and general refuse skips in the Spar parking lot had been removed. Lee said that they were removed at the request of Kenton-on-Sea Ratepayers Association chairman Simon Olivier, who said they were an eyesore. They were then placed outside the library, but another resident complained about them there.
Lee said residents can take glass to the IWARS recycling shed in the industrial area at Bushman’s River Extension until the issue is resolved. Residents can place their glass in the big green bags at the back of the lot. Lee said he would meet with Ndlambe community protection services director Nombulelo Booysen to decide where to place the skips.
There are also buy back centres where people can receive money for recyclables. In Kenton the centre is next to the Spar and in Port Alfred opposite the FNB.
As far as IWARS is concerned, recycling of waste is increasing, but must still become sustainable in Kenton and Bushman’s.
