Nelson Mandela Bay

Government has unveiled an initiative aimed at clearing the 7 251 illegal dumping hotspots in communities across the country – a project which has created more than 37 000 work opportunities.

The Municipal Cleaning and Greening initiative will be implemented in 14 prioritised municipalities across the nine provinces through the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) mass employment In-House Model, which allows it to implement and manage projects using its own staff.

“The impact of the 37 049 EPWP participants is visible across the country since their work includes daily cleaning streets, clearing illegal dumping sites, cleaning coastal areas and the revitalization of parks,” Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy said on Friday.

She made these remarks during the launch of the department’s mass employment programme to augment the Cleaning and Greening initiative in Motherwell, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM), Gqeberha.

As of 30 September this year, 1 299 or 19 percent of the sites have been cleared.

“Illegal dumping poses a health hazard to communities and undermines community morale and good governance. From an environmental perspective, illegal dumping poses serious risks to livestock, wetlands, rivers and marine and coastal areas.

“As the world moves to find more effective ways to combat plastic pollution, our government is taking more significant steps to improve municipal waste collection, ensure landfill compliance and promote waste recycling,” Creecy said.

The initiative is targeted at cleaning up illegal dump sites in provincial capitals including the City of Cape Town, Sol Plaatjie, Mafikeng, Msunduzi, Polokwane, City of Joburg, City of Ekurhuleni, City of Tshwane, Mogale City, Sedibeng, Mbombela and Mangaung.

In some instances, the cleaning and greening projects have rehabilitated wetlands which are important not only for spiritual or economic reasons but for their ecosystem services as well.

“Here in Nelson Mandela Bay we have identified 512 sites that require cleaning and today we show you some of the 41 sites where we have already begun our work.

“We assisted the municipality to find the budget to purchase a specialised fleet for waste collection; ensured additional refuse collection in to the un-serviced poor areas; supported improvements to waste disposal facilities and worked with the municipality to clear 41 illegal dumping hot spots,” the Minister said.

The greater clean-up programme across the Eastern Cape is creating a total of 8 000 work opportunities.

Municipalities that are part of this programme include Buffalo City Metro and municipalities that fall under Alfred Nzo, OR Tambo, Amatole, Chris Hani, Sarah Baartman and Joe Qabi District Municipalities.

“The Municipal Cleaning and Greening programme is a partnership with provinces and municipalities who assist in recruiting our public works participants and also provide protective clothing, and cleaning materials while we provide the stipend to all participants,” the Minister said.

To ensure sustainability of the programme, the cleaning and greening initiative includes planting trees in the rehabilitated dumping sites.

“We are planting both indigenous trees, in line with the water scarcity of the country, and the fruit trees to contribute towards food security. Communities are responsible for maintaining the trees within their households.

“This initiative is supported by assisting communities to understand the environmental and food security role of trees. A total of 225 000 trees will be planted by government throughout the country during this financial year, with 3000 committed for the Nelson Mandel Bay.”

As total of 2000 trees have been planted and the remaining 1000 will be planted over the next few months.

“The department fully acknowledges that part of the solution to the problem is to change societal attitudes and behaviour and to mobilise the public to begin taking charge and responsibility for keeping their neighbourhoods clean. However, we must also acknowledge that where municipalities have inadequate household waste collection the problem of dumping increases,” the Minister said.

Since the initiation of this programme, the department has processed applications for the specialised waste management vehicles from over 100 municipalities across the country.

In the last two years, government has spent over R164 million to buy 44 waste collection vehicles and 21 landfill management waste vehicles for 58 municipalities. – SAnews.gov.za