GEORGE NEWS - The George Municipality will soon be extending its recycling programme to areas that are not yet part of the blue and green bag system. This includes rural areas, high density neighbourhoods and informal settlements that could more than double the city's current yield of about 600 000kg of recyclable waste per month.
The roll-out is planned for the first week of October. An extensive awareness campaign in schools and neighbourhoods where the programme is new, is currently taking place.
It will include more than 21 000 households in Ballotsview, Borcherds, Conville, Lawaaikamp, New Dawn Park, Pacaltsdorp, Parkdene, Protea Park, Rosemoor, Sea View and Thembalethu, as well as Uniondale and Haarlem rural areas.
Municipal Manager Trevor Botha said local landfill sites are closing and transport to regional landfill and waste disposal facilities outside Mossel Bay is adding to the bill. "If we can reduce the amount of waste transported out of the city, everyone benefits in the long term - financially and environmentally," he said.
In this regard the municipality has introduced several different waste reduction efforts, including extensive environmental education and awareness, the establishment of transfer stations where waste is sorted, composting areas for garden waste, and the introduction of a blue and green bag refuse collection system to households and businesses.
The municipality has been using a two-bags (black and blue) refuse collection system since 2008. A green bag for garden waste was added in February this year. The programme already serves nearly 17 000 households in the municipal area including most suburbs of George as well as the outer areas of Wilderness, Kleinkrantz, Hoekwil, Victoria Bay, Herold's Bay and Delville Park.
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