4 December 2019
3
www.thevillagenews.co.za
Waste recycling grinds to a halt again Writer De Waal Steyn
I
t seems as if residents will be left with no choice but to send their recycling, together with their other waste, to the Karwyderskraal landfill site. This follows the announcement last week by Walker Bay Recycling (WBR) that it will close its doors indefinitely, just over a year after opening.
All recycling came to a grinding halt after the original WBR company’s premises in Swartdam Road were destroyed by rampaging protesters last year. After the destruction of the recycle centre and the municipal waste transfer station, WBR was bought by new investors in October 2018 and shortly after moved to their new premises in the industrial area. In an open letter WBR said the decision to close its doors was largely because it has received no assistance from the municipality. “The aim of this operation was for WBR to collect recyclable materials from the Hermanus dumpsite, as well as in Hermanus and the surrounding areas, and after suitable sorting and baling, would sell these products on the open market,” the letter by WBR management stated. According to the company it was running at a loss of R180 000 per month and this loss could not be sustained. “We are urging the municipality to assist in various ways, for example, with subsidies in order to keep the current employees.” Shortly after the letter from WBR was made public residents took to social media to voice their concern about the closing of WBR and the lack of a recycling facility for the town. A petition to demand that, as a matter of urgency, the Overstrand Municipality reintroduce a recycling service had garnered more than 1 700 votes by Tuesday morning. The petition states: “We live in an age when more and more people are aware of the impact on the environment of landfill and excessive waste, when more and more people are conscious of reducing their own contribution to this problem and are attempting to reduce it. It is a disgrace that an area such as ours, which depends so much on its natural environment to attract both residents and tourists, should not be capable of offering such a facility to help protect it. “The facility is there for the asking and the lack of action on the part of the municipality displays an appalling lack of either capability and/or will. Please forget the red tape and get off your backsides.” Following the outcry from residents, the municipality said in a statement that it has been unable to offer any assistance to Walker Bay Recycling,
“due to the fact that they are a private company operating from private property, and do not have any contract or agreement with the municipality for the recycling of waste”. Municipal `Manager, Coenie Groenewald, said it would be at least another year before a new Material Recovery Facility (MRF) would be up and running. “WBR was informed from our first meeting with them that the municipality is unable to offer any sort of support to them due to legislative constraints. They would have to wait until the new MRF has been constructed, and then they can tender along with everyone else for the operation of the facility,” Groenewald said. He added that, as the municipality works with public funds, it cannot support or subsidise any private company without the necessary procedures being followed. “During the course of the year numerous meetings have been held with WBR. The municipality discussed the following issues that they had during the year: • The construction of the new municipal MRF and the proposed tender that will follow for an operator; • The reasons why a short-term tender could not be invited for the collection and recycling of the clear bags; • Access to municipal clear bags (for residential recycling) and why we cannot collect and deliver the recyclables to them, as well as why they cannot collect from the kerb in terms of the Waste Bylaw, and • The fact that we cannot offer them any financial assistance or incentive for recycling the waste as we have no contract with them to provide the service on behalf of the municipality. “The representatives of WBR appeared to have a good understanding of the municipality’s point of view during all deliberations between the parties,” Groenewald said. “In addition to this, the drop in the rate per ton paid for recyclables has had a major effect on the financial viability of WBR as well as all other waste recyclers in South Africa. The paper industry is in a very bad place at the moment. The market value for cardboard, for example, stood at around R1 500 per ton at the beginning of the year. By the beginning of November, it was at around R400 per ton; by the middle of the month at R200 per ton and now it is R100 per ton,” Groenewald said. “At the Western Cape Recycling Action Group meeting held in November in Kraaifontein, attendees were informed that 35 small recycling contractors were on the brink of closing down due to unfavourable market conditions. In
TOP: Some 40 families will be affected by the closure of the Walker Bay Recycling plant. ABOVE AND RIGHT: A resident left this black bag over the weekend on the parking space at the municipal offices of Coenie Groenewald, Municipal Manager. A note attached to it read: ‘Recycled refuse: where to now?’ addition, Mpact Recycling announced that they would stop recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at their Wadeville plant,” he added. The consent-use applications for the new MRF and public drop-off facilities, as well as the chipping site have been submitted to the Town Planning Department and the public has until 24 January 2020 to comment on the applications. The building plans have also been submitted for approval. “The MRF and drop-off facilities will be situated in Schulphoek Road, next to the Hermanus Sewerage Treatment Works, and the chipping facility will be situated next to the Law Enforcement premises in Hemel-en-Aarde, along the Camphill Road. The tender preparation for the construction of the facilities is almost complete and the tender will be advertised in January 2020. “It is envisaged that the construction should be completed by December 2020 if no unforeseen delays occur. Only once the facility is operational will the municipality be in a position to resume the supply and collection of the clear bags and their delivery to the new MRF operator,” said
Groenewald. According to the municipality, in spite of all the negative comments and complaints, residents can rest assured that it remains committed to the recycling process which is an effective way to save natural resources and lowers waste products sent to landfill sites. In a statement the municipality appealed to residents to think carefully before simply throwing items into the rubbish bin. “Please reduce and re-use household waste and try to leave as small a carbon footprint as possible – even though all waste collected is currently being dropped off at the Karwyderskraal landfill site.” Each household can place either one wheelie bin or four black bags with domestic refuse on the sidewalk for removal, with the proviso that only one bag may contain garden waste. Please remember that refuse may only be placed on the sidewalk on the day of collection. In baboonaffected areas only refuse in baboon-proof bins may be put out for collection.
