GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - With the municipality's Waste Transfer Station closed, the Graaff-Reinet Residents' & Ratepayers' Association this week expressed their concern over the continued illegal dumping of refuse in Graaff-Reinet.
"The Community Services Department of the Dr. Beyers Naudé Local Municipality has closed the Waste Transfer Station on the outskirts of Graaff-Reinet on the road to Aberdeen so that the huge pile of refuse that has accumulated there can be moved to the landfill site," the Association said in a statement this week.
"This landfill site is situated 10km from town. Municipal trucks transferring the refuse, either make use of the N9 to Aberdeen, or the road that makes its way through Adendorp, to get there. Many residents have commented on the refuse blowing from these trucks which then gets left lying next to the road."
While a notice on the Waste Transfer Site's gate instructs residents to take their refuse to the landfill site, the Association is concerned that while some residents are, in fact, doing this, others have just resorted to finding a secluded spot anywhere in or around Graaff-Reinet and dumping their refuse there.
Mounds of garbage were recently dumped on the road to the Graaff-Reinet Golf Course.
Some residents are dropping bags full of refuse at the old tip site where the fence has disappeared.
Others take bags into the river at the southern end of Plasket Street.
"Both the municipality and the residents are asked to play their part in cleaning up Graaff-Reinet," the Association said.
"The municipality does not have the resources to clean up the town without the help of the residents. Whatever effort it makes, is nullified by the lack of co-operation by the residents."
The Association pleads with Graaff-Reinet's residents to please try and minimise their refuse output, to try and recycle where ever possible, to attempt to make compost from food waste and to only dump where it is legal to do so.
The Association is also eager to hear from residents about any recycling initiatives in town, e-mail the Association at info@grt-ratepayers.co.za if you have any stories to share.
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