Durban - The orange bag recycling programme in the eThekwini Municipality is to be “reconfigured” amid challenges that have brought it to the brink of collapse.
The municipality said yesterday that it is facing challenges and processes are under way to have it reconfigured.
It was not immediately clear what the reconfiguration plan would entail.
The DA in eThekwini is demanding answers about the programme amid concerns the programme has collapsed.
Councillors and community-based organisations have told of differing fortunes when it comes to the programme with many revealing that it is almost dysfunctional and others saying it has not worked for years.
EThekwini Municipality’s head of communications, Lindiwe Khuzwayo said: “We acknowledge that there are some challenges with this programme. The Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit has drafted a report to advise council of the current challenges that the programme faces and request its permission to reconfigure (it) to address the identified challenges.
“This report will be presented at the June meeting of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee for its considerations before final council approval,” she said.
DA councillor Mzamo Billy said the programme has collapsed. He said there was currently no delivery and no collection of orange bags, and no contingency plan in place.
In a statement, Billy said since 2015, the programme has encountered issues such as the non-delivery and non-collection of orange bags, inconsistencies in the procurement process, and the nomination of companies to supply orange bags that lacked the necessary expertise and technical understanding.
“The DA will write to the chairperson of the Human Settlement and Infrastructure Committee, under which Durban Solid Waste (DSW) falls, requesting that the acting head of DSW, Noluthando Magewu, and supply chain management (be summoned) to a special meeting to provide an update on the recycling programme and the true state of DSW.
“The failure of the recycling programme has negatively affected the city’s waste management and recycling efforts as a whole. The condition of our landfill site is another imminent catastrophe, and the promotion of recycling ensures not all waste ends up in the landfill but is recycled,” he said.
DA councillor in the Durban North area Nicole Bollman said of the programme, “it is a complete hit and miss”.
Her ward includes Virginia, Glenashley, La Lucia, uMhlanga, Somerset Park and Prestondale.
She said she had arranged for a consignment of orange bags to be delivered to the area which residents collected, however, the collections had been erratic.
“I am advised that the reason for this is that the contractors currently do not have a contract with the city. I am advised that the revenue from recycling is limited and because of a loss of income there are limited collections,” she said.
Another ward councillor, Shontel de Boer, said the programme had fallen flat in her area.
“Unfortunately, the orange bag programme has fallen flat for quite a while now, it’s not happening in my area and I’m getting continuous complaints,” she said, adding that she had asked the municipality to set up a collection point in one of the common areas in her ward, and she is still waiting for a response.
“Even if we get the bags, the collection of the bags has not happened for close to a year now, the situation is dire and something needs to be done,” she said, adding that residents wanted to recycle goods.
Eric Mtolo from the Montclair clean-up team said: “Yes we do get orange bags. It is not going as smoothly as it was initiated. Sometimes you find that there is a shortage of those bags and if not, those bags are not collected on time. And vagrants will come and tear them up and it’s a big mess.”