This week the City opened two new waste drop-off facilities – one in Khayelitsha and one in Mitchells Plain. These facilities will now provide residents from Blue Downs, Mfuleni, Hillcrest Heights, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain with a much-needed site to dispose of their waste in a responsible and sustainable manner.
The City of Cape Town’s new Faure and Swartklip drop-off sites are now open to the public. Both of these facilities were opened this week, with the Faure drop-off being located on the corner of Old Faure and Spine Road and the Swartklip drop-off situated on Swartklip Road, at the old landfill site.
The City has invested over R11 million into the new Faure drop-off facility and over R12 million into Swartklip.
‘In line with the Organisational Development and Transformation Plan priority of sustainability, the City invests in drop-off facilities of this scale to assist in our efforts to minimise waste and manage it responsibly across the metro. We believe these facilities will cater to the great need for an established drop-off site closer to these communities in order to prevent and minimise illegal dumping which has been a major problem in these regions. With the buy-in from residents, this facility will reduce illegal dumping and littering and improve the environmental health of their communities as a result,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Area East, Councillor Anda Ntsodo.
These drop-off sites will accept general waste from residential sources, with the common waste types accepted being: garage waste, clean garden waste, motor oil, cans and metal, paper, cardboard, glass bottle, plastic, e-waste, clean builders rubble, polystyrene and tetrapak. It should be noted that domestic kitchen waste is not accepted and should be disposed through the City’s residential waste removal service.
One of the greatest services that these facilities provide to communities is that residents are free to drop off an unlimited amount of recyclable waste at these sites for the City to recycle.
‘I urge residents to make use of these conveniently located drop-off sites not only for their large volumes of waste such as building rubble and garden waste, but to make a great effort to collect as much recyclable material as possible and to drop this off at the Faure and Swartklip facilities. Waste minimisation is so vital to a sustainable future city as the city’s landfills are running out of space and should only be used for waste that cannot be reused or recycled,’ said Councillor Ntsodo.
The City has 25 public waste drop-off sites spread across Cape Town. For further details related to the location of the City’s drop off sites or the items and volumes accepted, residents should please visit: http://www.capetown.gov.za/Explore%20and%20enjoy/See-all-city-facilities/our-service-facilities/Drop-off%20facilities
The operating times of all City of Cape Town drop-off sites are as follows:
- Summer: 1 September to 30 April (Monday to Friday) 08:00 to 18:30
- Winter: 1 May to 31 August (Monday to Friday) 08:30 to 17:00
- Saturdays and public holidays (all year round): 08:00 to 17:00
- Sundays (all year round) 09:00 to 14:00
For more ideas on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, residents should please visit: http://www.capetown.gov.za/Family%20and%20home/greener-living/recycling-at-home/reduce-your-waste