On Wednesday, 09 March, thousands of City staff across the metro joined the Mayor’s Clean Up campaign. It was great to see this huge team of people moving together to get Cape Town looking cleaner. Our message was simple: Cleaning up Cape Town will take all of us working together, and needs all of us to show pride in our Mother City. Four sites were cleaned simultaneously, namely Cape Town CBD, Elsies River, Kuilsriver and Lotus River.
‘Last month we launched a major city-wide Clean-Up Campaign in Mitchell’s Plain Town Centre and have run clean up operations in several areas across the city over recent weeks. I am so proud of TeamCapeTown who are setting the example of what we can do to inspire pride and working together to make progress.
‘If this is done consistently, we create new habits, like the habit of placing litter in bins, of not dumping on the side of the road, or on open fields. The health and safety of our community is something that residents can positively contribute to.
‘We ask that adults teach our young people about the importance of putting litter in the bin, because littering prevents spaces from being safe, open and enjoyable,’ said Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis.
There are more than 1600 permanent Solid Waste workers, and more than 1200 temporary workers on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) engaged on a rotational basis seven days a week.
More than 180 000 tonnes of waste is cleared annually from illegal dumping hotspots city-wide. Illegal dumping costs the City more than R300 million over the last year – money which could have been used on other services and projects to uplift residents.
The current services include:
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- City-wide litter picking and street sweeping;
- Removal of illegal dumping in public spaces
- Waste removal in informal settlements
- By-Law enforcement
- Provision of litter bins
- Managing Contracted services
- Managing Partnership with CIDs
- Beach Cleaning
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‘I joined the City staff, local councillors, business owners, and community members of Kuils River and I am pleased to see more residents getting involved too. The City’s efforts to keep communities clean are extensive. There are focused education and awareness campaigns, weekly waste collection (both formal and informal areas, and provision of waste drop off facilities). However, it is clear that we need to intensify our efforts through inclusion to bring about a culture change to stop littering and illegal dumping. If we are to create a sense of civic pride, we need each and every one of you to help us keep our City neat and tidy,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste, Grant Twigg.
The City is enforcing stronger fines and penalties for illegal dumping to stop this disrespect for communities
Please report illegal dumping to 0860 103 089.
Help support the efforts of the City’s Solid Waste team by not illegally dumping or discarding waste in the street.
Join us to encourage cleaner streets, neighbourhoods and a cleaner City to create civic pride.
Let’s Keep Cape Town Clean, Together!