By Nangamso Mabindla
4 March 2004

In a bid to curb illegal dumping, Buffalo City's waste management services have urged residents and businesses to utilise the seven official waste disposal sites around the city.

The appeal follows numerous complaints from residents to the municipality's Customer Care Centre about illegal dumping.

A particular problem area identified was in Croydon Road in the East London suburb of Cambridge. Thembi Soto from the Customer Care Centre investigated the site and found "vegetation, tiles and ordinary garbage". She said it seemed that both businesses and householders had used the area as a dumping ground.

Kaya Qabaka from the municipality's waste management services said there was no excuse for illegal dumping. "We have several legal waste disposal sites throughout Buffalo City and we believe people should utilise them so that we can maintain our status as one of the cleanest cities in South Africa."

Last year Buffalo City won the Clean City Award, when it was voted the cleanest city in the Eastern Cape. Qabaka said the award was an acknowledgment of the work of the waste management services, with the help of the city's residents.

"We are appealing to the citizens to continue helping the municipality create a safe and clean environment. Our children and elderly deserve to live in a clean city and breath cleaner air," said Qabaka.

A city wide clean up campaign, involving all the local communities and schools, is held annually, according to Qabaka. "We've been very successful with these campaigns."

Besides the weekly waste collection from local residences and businesses, Buffalo City also ran the seven landfill sites, where citizens could take garden refuse, recyclable materials such as paper or glass, or bulk waste. Buffalo City's legal refuse disposal sites were located in:

• King William's Town in Berlin
• NU2 in Mdantsane
• Second Creek in Parkside
• Ducats in Macleantown Road, Beacon Bay
• Riegerton
• Gonubie and
• Dimbaza

According to Qabaka, East London residents could also use the Stoney Drift site in Amalinda, the Orange Grove site in West Bank and the Rigads Tip in Riegerton, Gonubie for garden refuse. A new site in Berlin was still under development, Qabaka added. The sites are open from 8 am to 5 pm from Monday to Saturday. Light domestic loads do not cost consumers anything, while the standard payment for bulk loads are R43,89 a cubic meter.