By Nangamso Mabindla
20 June 2006

BUFFALO City has allocated R4-million on an emergency intervention programme to make sure that refuse collection in East London remains on track.

The municipality recently took tough action to get rid of a backlog after residents complained about piles of uncollected refuse that threatened their health and the environment.

The City launched a three-month intervention to tackle the backlog and ensure the cleaning teams "sustain the situation".

The intervention is already showing results, according to Buffalo City executive mayor, Zintle Peter, who said she had already received reports from the community services department that the City had overcome its refuse backlog.

Intense work "in the face of the refuse problem, which resulted in piles of uncollected bags in the streets, is over", the mayor said. "Our teams start with a clean slate … to sustain the situation."

The mayor said she had been assured that the refuse team "is on top of it all".

The intervention has been put in place until the arrival of six new trucks to supplement the City's ageing fleet. They will be in service from October 2006.

Buffalo City currently has 14 trucks operating in the coastal area (East London), with four on standby in the event of down time.

Peter pointed out the scale of refuse removal in Buffalo City. The City generates 255 000 tons of solid waste annually – of which 30 000 tons is industrial waste.

Daily 140 street sweepers clean the roads in the CBD. "There are [also] 157 toilet blocks situated throughout the municipality, including the CBDs, picnic areas and informal settlements," Peter pointed out.

There are seven waste disposal sites in Buffalo City: King William's Town, NU2 in Mdantsane, Second Creek, Ducats, Riegerton, Gonubie and Dimbaza.

A regional waste site in Berlin will also be coming on stream.

Nine hundred people will employed for the duration of the intervention programme.