- The City of Cape Town has launched a six-month pilot project in Dunoon to increase refuse collection from once to three times a week.
- The initiative aims to curb the ongoing problem of illegal dumping, which has worsened due to the area’s high population density and informal backyard rentals.
- If successful, the project could be expanded to other densely populated areas.
A six-month pilot project in Dunoon has been rolled out to test the impact of increased refuse collection on levels of dumping in areas with high concentrations of “backyarder” rentals.
The City of Cape Town says they are upping Dunoon waste collection to tackle illegal dumping in the area.
Effective from 1 September, refuse collection in Dunoon will increase from once a week to three times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
If increased refuse collection reduces dumping and achieves better environmental outcomes, the City will consider rolling it out to other areas with similar densification challenges.
For years, illegal dumping has been a persistent and growing concern in Dunoon. Despite various efforts to address the issue, piles of waste continue to accumulate in public spaces, posing significant health risks and affecting the quality of life for residents.
With limited access to formal waste collection services and the rise of informal backyard rentals, the problem has only intensified. As community members and City officials grapple with the impact of this environmental challenge, the need for sustainable solutions becomes increasingly urgent.
Increased service frequency
The City says the temporary change aims to test the impact of increased service frequency on levels of dumping in the area, and if increased services result in less waste affecting the downstream environment.
Dunoon is currently experiencing intensive illegal dumping linked to extreme population density, with knock-on effects on community health and the environment.
After a six-month period the City will assess the impact of the increased services to decide if this can be continued or expanded to other areas with similar densification challenges.
“Dunoon, like many other areas within Cape Town, is currently affected by extreme population density, with multiple families living together on one property in most cases,” the City says.
The drastic increase in population density has placed considerable pressure on refuse collection services, and the City’s indigent benefit offering.
Although properties in Dunoon meet the criteria to qualify for indigent assistance under the City’s policies, and receive one subsidised bin collection per household, once a week, many properties have been informally subdivided over the years. This means that a single bin per property is no longer enough to contain the waste generated by the multiple households (mainly backyarders) that now share a property.
This has contributed significantly to the prevalence of illegal dumping in the community, alongside other contributing factors such as land invasions, and perceptions in the community that littering creates or sustains jobs.
Environmental protection
The City hopes that increasing the frequency of refuse collection will create a cleaner and healthier living environment in Dunoon.
“Improved cleanliness is more than just an aesthetic enhancement; it can foster a greater sense of pride and ownership within the community. Living in a clean area can make a big difference to the mindset of residents and can inspire hope and belief that we can create a brighter future if we put in the effort together,” the City says.
In addition, this intervention aims to protect downstream environments from pollution caused by litter. The stormwater network in Dunoon connects to the Milnerton Lagoon and ultimately flows out to Lagoon Beach. Illegally dumped litter, if not intercepted by the City’s cleansing programmes, can wash into these sensitive ecosystems.
Call to community
The City urges all Dunoon residents to cooperate with the new collection schedule by placing their bins out for collection by 07:00 on the assigned days.
Due to factors such as gang violence, protest action, and sewer overflows, which can sometimes impact waste collection, residents throughout the city, and including Dunoon, are asked to leave bins out until 21:00 each day.
If bins are not emptied on the scheduled day, please leave them out for collection the following collection day. Importantly, residents are urged not to resort to illegal dumping.
“Over the next six months, we need all residents in Dunoon to help us tackle illegal dumping in their area by only using the City’s increased refuse collection service instead of littering or illegally dumping their waste. City teams will closely monitor the progress of this pilot project over the next six months and look forward to seeing the results,” says Mayco member for urban waste management, Grant Twigg.
A Dunoon resident, Siyamtanda Mniki, says the whole community is delighted that illegal dumping is being tackled in the area, but residents should do their part as well.
“Sometimes, it is not the residents in Dunoon that dump here, but rather outsiders who dump their rubbish on the open fields. I have children, and children play everywhere. We should take a stand as a community,” she says.
