Spring clean-up under way

THE eThekwini Municipality has encouraged communities to embark on a Spring clean up to teach communities about responsible dumping and litter removal.

eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda launched the Spring Clean-up Campaign recently. It will run until Friday.

He led the team of politicians and municipal officials to Reunion Park, where the launch took place.

Msawakhe Mayisela, eThekwini spokesperson, said this was a municipal-wide project, which would take place in several areas in the city that were impacted by litter. He said a programme had been planned throughout the city and would be implemented by integrated teams in partnership with communities, non-profit organisations, businesses and industries.

Mayisela said the campaign was not established to replace the work that the cleaning waste employees do but to place emphasis on the role society could play in achieving a clean and litter-free city.

“The campaign also highlights the role of the businesses, residents, schools and non-governmental organisations to stop littering. The city is assisting them to clean their areas, and their role is to stop littering and dispose of waste correctly.”

Mayisela said the campaign had thus far been a success with the daily clean-up and awareness campaigns.

Eurekha Singh, a municipality cleaning team member for Bluff and Southern region areas, said: “Residents took part in the initiative, and many municipal departments were also on the ground. We identified illegal dumping hot spots which were cleaned.”

Singh said an area adjacent to the Phola Park settlement in Malagazi was also cleaned.

“As these areas were getting cleaned, the education department from Durban Solid Waste spoke to the community about responsible dumping and litter removal.”

She said it took them five days in the first week to clean surrounding areas in Bluff and areas in the Southern region.

“The first week focused on the Southern areas. We worked in Bluff, Clairwood, Lamontville, Isipingo and uMlazi.”

Singh said residents, pupils and NGOs participated.

“Everything went well. In fact, we are not going to let it be just a spring clean-up. We want it to become a regular cleaning initiative where the community partners with the municipality because the city cannot do it alone. The community also needs to be reminded about the responsible disposal of waste.”

She said the city had done similar campaigns previously, but it was the first time it made an effort to get the community involved.

Hoosen Moola, the acting head of the area-based management unit in the city, said they did the clean up in the inner city for a week in wards 26 and 28.

“We did not cover the entire area but areas where there was more to do in terms of the clean up.”

Moola said the idea was to encourage citizens to keep their areas clean.

“We want people to start taking responsibility for waste, promote waste recycling and ensure people are responsible when it comes to their own litter. Whether it’s in their homes, vehicles, wherever they are, they must make sure to put litter in the bin.

“The clean-up is a continuous programme.”