Over 1 226 tonnes of litter and illegally dumped waste is removed to landfills from the Cape Town CBD every year by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID).
That’s equivalent to over 100 000 kilogrammes every month, which is the amount of dung produced by 40 African elephants. The stench is almost as bad.
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To highlight the problem, the CCID has launched its 2023 anti-litter campaign in the city centre to urge the public and business owners not to ‘trash our town’ and ‘dump on our doorstep’.
According to CCID’s urban development department manager Kally Benito, the amount of litter collected in 2020 (the start of the pandemic and consecutive lockdowns) decreased to 583 tonnes.
Now that the CBD is up and running as normal, the amount of litter has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
‘The amount of litter jumped from 709 tonnes in 2019 to 1 226 tonnes in 2022 – an increase of over 70%’ says Benito. ‘We must work together to turn this around. Our hard-hitting campaign aims to educate people to dispose of waste responsibly’.
The CCID’s three-month anti-litter campaign aims to keep the CBD ‘crime- and grime-free’ by focusing on curbing the problem of illegal dumping and educating business owners on how to develop and implement a waste management plan.
‘Business owners need to ensure they have sufficient black bins for the amount of waste their business generates,’ adds Benito. ‘We find that illegal dumping happens mostly at night in the CBD because businesses do not have enough black bins.’
Members of the public are also urged to report illegal dumping to the CCID control room by calling 082 415 7127.
As part of the campaign, CCID Urban Management will be handing out flyers to business owners in town with information on how they can work with the City’s Solid Waste Department to manage their waste effectively.
In addition to illegal dumping and waste spilling from litter bags, the campaign aims to combat graffiti tagging and cigarette-butt litter too.
In 2020, over 680 kilogrammes of cigarette-butt waste was collected from the 310 branded cigarette-butt litter bins throughout the CBD.
In spite of the challenges posed by littering, Benito says the department is confident that, with the City of Cape Town, it will continue to ensure the CBD is a ‘clean, sustainable and welcoming downtown environment for locals, visitors and investors alike’.
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Picture: CCID Urban Management / Website