Following a video that the POST uploaded to social media on Wednesday, a massive clean-up operation is underway in and around the Chatsworth Garden Refuse Site.
The video showed bin bags, household dirt and discarded furniture dumped outside the refuse site in Westcliff over the festive season. Refuse also ended up being strewn over a bridge next to the refuse site, risking the safety of motorists.
This morning, community leaders joined Durban Solid Waste (DSW) and volunteers to clean up the polluted area. Salvage pickers, who rummaged through the waste, also attended.
Teddy Govender, the chairperson of the Chatsworth Concerned Citizens Group (CCCG), said: “The municipality had failed the residents miserably. I am glad that this eyesore is finally being cleaned. The illegal dumping was not only a health hazard to residents, but a hazard to motorists using Sagittarius Road and the Higginson Highway."
Community leader, Selvan Moodley, said he formed a committee to clean up the area and was thankful that DSW was on board with manpower and equipment to fasttrack the clean-up.
Danny Reddy, 69, a volunteer and resident, said he hoped the area would remain clean.
“I am embarrassed by the illegal dumping by the residents of this very community. It is a disgrace to the community. It is also disrespectful to the people living here. This attitude of dumping must stop immediately,” he said.
Another resident, Danny Kalpee, 77, who joined the clean-up, said: “There are people from the very same community of Chatsworth dumping. I wonder what the conditions are in their own homes. It must be worse than the dump. They must be found and fined. We need cameras or full-time security stationed at the site for this to stop.”