In keeping with its mandate to provide a clean, attractive and risk-reduced urban environment in the Cape Town Central City for all to enjoy, the CCID’s Urban Management department is collaborating with the City of Cape Town’s Solid Waste Management Department to ensure there are adequate green bins in the CBD.
Says Richard Beesley, manager of CCID Urban Management: “Generally, when people have to walk long distances in the CBD or anywhere to find the nearest bin, they are more likely to get frustrated and end up dumping their litter anywhere. And that can contribute to a great deal of litter ending up on the streets and ultimately in our oceans. Therefore, working in conjunction with our partners at City Solid Waste Management, we want to be proactive and prevent this from happening as we continue to drive home the message that the responsibility of a clean CBD starts with the people who use it daily. We’ve also heard pleas from members of the public regarding bins and are delivering on that request.
“So, to ensure we know exactly where there’s a shortage of green bins in the CBD, our precinct managers, Mmiselo Ntsime and Carlisle Marankey, who manage the CCID’s four precincts between them conducted an extensive audit. This then enabled us to provide City Solid Waste Management with accurate information on where they should place the additional bins. But this is not only about increasing the number of bins, it’s also about ensuring that the existing ones are in good condition, so litter actually stays in the bins and doesn’t end up on the street.”
The City’s Solid Waste Management Department is responsible for the collection and disposal of waste, area cleaning, preventing waste and pollution, and minimising waste.
While the collaboration between the City Solid Waste Management and the CCID Urban Management is ongoing, at present, a sizable number of bins have already been added as well as replaced within Precinct 1 (the Foreshore) and Precinct 4 (East City) as audits were first conducted in these areas. Both Mmiselo and Carlisle (who walk the CBD’s streets daily observing changes within the urban environment) agree that although it’s still early days, they are already seeing an improvement in terms of people making use of the additional bins and say they’re encouraged that more people will “come clean” as suggested by the department’s “It’s time to come clean” messaging.
Image by Scott Arendse