GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Residents of Graaff-Reinet who are keen to recycle are fortunate to have a local business in town that makes the whole process straightforward with minimal effort.
Gerhard (Pottie) Potgieter of Graaff-Reinet Recycling provides a full service, from providing the clear plastic bags to collecting filled bags from the street once a week and leaving fresh bags.
"Getting rid of our refuse in Graaff-Reinet is a huge problem – a problem which cannot be solved by our municipality," explains Liz Buisman of the Graaff-Reinet Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association. "We need to do our bit by reducing what we send to the dump."
Buisman says the key is to separate waste at its source, both in homes and in businesses.
The first step is to collect bags from Potgieter at the business in Fabriek Street, or phone him on 082 921 7142 and he will deliver.
Put clean paper, cardboard, tins, glass, metal, plastic (but no polystyrene punnets) in the bag. This should be left outside on Monday mornings for those who live in the Horseshoe north of Somerset Street, and on Wednesday mornings for Somerset Street and streets to the south of it. On Tuesday mornings, collections are made in Reinet Park, Spandauville, and Bergendal.
Other areas will be gradually added as soon as there is sufficient demand. In the meantime, residents of other areas can also play their part by taking bags of recyclable materials to Graaff-Reinet Recycling. If several residents get together, Potgieter is also prepared to make special arrangements for collection in other areas.
Although he is able to sort out and rescue a fair amount of discarded cardboard boxes from the landfill site, he would prefer to collect empty cardboard boxes directly from the businesses. Many boxes at the landfill site are unusable as these items are compacted with other waste.
Organic kitchen waste also need not clutter up the landfill, and residents are encouraged to start a compost heap or invest in a compost bin for this waste.
Many residents have found that they now only need to put out a black bag every second week, and one family has managed to reduced their household rubbish by 75%.
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