Recycling in the capital

Well, we're not quite in the same league as Al Gore, but my wife and I do try to make some effort towards cutting down on our wasteful consumer-oriented impact on the environment.

We've got a decent system going to compost our organic waste and we try to recycle where possible.

Unfortunately this is a major uphill battle in the republic of sleepy hollow. We may be the city of choice but the services rendered for our rapidly escalating municipal rates are hardly addressing environmental issues.

Today the witness reported on a sewerage outflow into the Msunduzi river from one of the pump stations. That's right, the report claims raw sewerage is flowing straight into the river. Is there any outrage, are heads going to roll? Nope. There seems to be some concern and some gentle assurance that they'll address it but no-one seems overly perturbed.

If we don't pay our rates or taxes you can bet your life we'll be rapidly prosecuted and incarcerated but is there any consequence for allowing severe pollution of the environment we are paying the council to protect and manage? Naaah.

Sorry, I digressed. But back to the recycling issue.

It is a battle to recycle waste in this town. At one stage there was a paper pick-up where you could leave waste paper out on the verge on a certain day of the week but, sadly, this was discontinued. Apparently it wasn't supported enough by residents so it became unviable. That is really disappointing, but I can believe it. Apathy is rife.

Apart from that there is no collection service whatsoever for recycling. There are some "dump" points where you can take your glass and paper but these seem to be very poorly serviced. It is a mission to get all your recyclables to the spot and then when you arrive, half the time the bins are overflowing and obviously haven't been emptied for weeks.

Pathetic.

Perhaps it isn't commercially feasible to run these recycling points but one would think then, that the city would subsidise this. What a great way to reduce our landfill impact, reduce litter and create jobs? Obviously not a priority.

Above is a picture taken of the overflow of the glass recycling point at the Super Spar. Took time off during my lunch to take my glass there and had to return home with it because the point obviously hadn't been cleared for some time.

These bins have the name "reclaim" on them so presumably this is the organisation responsible for running the point. Get your act together guys, this is pathetic. And, Pietermaritzburg/Msunduzi council, you could also really get involved in a recycling drive. Give us *something* for our rates.

(P.S. The paper bin is mondi run but that was fine, no complaints there)