MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Mossel Bay Municipality confirms that small amounts of garden refuse will still be collected by the refuse trucks until the end of June 2018. 

However, residents are urged to personally take garden waste to the waste facilities on Louis Fourie Road or at Great Brak River. 

This follows an outcry on social media after calls were made that residents should no longer use black bags to dispose of garden refuse.

"Mossel Bay Municipality has never officially removed garden refuse as part of their refuse collection service provided to the public," the director of community services, Elize Nel, says.

She explains that there are generally four types of waste produced in municipalities, namely household/domestic/bulky waste, green/garden waste, builders' rubble and hazardous waste.

"The annual municipal tariffs approved by the municipal council clearly state that a unit of refuse for households is deemed as two refuse bags and specifically refer to domestic waste."

'Increased drastically'
"Domestic waste does not include green or garden waste. "In the past the municipality removed smaller quantities (five bags at the most) of garden refuse that residents usually placed in black bags from households at no extra charge as part of the regular service delivery. 

"Over the past few months, however, this became unsustainable as the number of households that put out 10+ and up to 60 bags of waste on a weekly basis increased drastically," Nel said.

Residents are urged to personally dispose of garden waste at the Louis Fourie Road or Great Brak River waste facilities.

Huge impact
The impact of the increased numbers of bags of garden refuse is as follows:

• Compactors that collect waste are specifically designed for household/ domestic/ bulky waste. The compactor compresses the bags. As a result any sticks or branches from the garden refuse that get into the mechanical parts of the compactor cause damage.

The hydraulic arms have to work too hard, resulting in damage to the hydraulic pipes. They burst because of the pressure and have to be repaired at great cost.

"Approximately R100 000 has been spent since the beginning of this financial year on repairs of this nature," Nel said.

• Besides the financial impact, any damaged compactor is rendered out of service for weeks while being repaired, resulting in compromised service delivery.

"Although there are four back-up compactors available, the entire fleet can only handle so many breakdowns and when six or more compactors are sent for repairs this results in enormous strain in delivering the excellent service this municipality prides itself in," Nel said.

• Mowed grass is extremely heavy. The municipality pays per tonnage for waste dumped at the facility at PetroSA. The more tons dumped, the more the municipality pays, which eventually must be recovered from ratepayers when tariffs are increased annually.
• The new regional landfill facility will consist of separate cells for household/domestic/bulky waste and garden/green waste. Waste that is mixed or contaminated will not be accepted. Homeowners must therefore separate their waste at home. This is also a condition of the existing municipal by-law.
• By disposing green or garden refuse with household refuse, residents violate the Waste Management Act. This may result in hefty fines and/or jail time, where applicable.

"In Section 7 of the municipal By-law on Waste Management it states that the municipality may remove garden waste at a cost from the occupier. Until now the municipality has not charged residents for the removal of green/garden waste. However, the municipality once again urges residents to actively engage in waste minimisation through the composting of green/garden waste and by recycling.

"The municipality is in the process of addressing this issue on a long-term basis and confirms that small amounts of garden refuse will still be collected by the refuse trucks until the end of June 2018," Nel added.

Besides the Louis Fourie Road and Great Brak River facilities, small quantities of garden waste are also accepted at the Sonskynvallei Transfer Station.

The public is urged to rather dispose of garden/green waste at the two large waste facilities.

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