Oatlands North resident Willem Coetzer got so sick of driving past rubbish every day on the way home from work that he decided to do something about it.
Oatlands North resident Willem Coetzer got so sick of driving past rubbish every day on the way home from work that he decided to do something about it.
Together with some friends and neighbours, he cleared the rubbish residents had dumped in and around the stream bed.
Then he hired another Grahamstown resident, Manezi Mcuba, to plant a garden there.
They hope home owners will be so inspired by their efforts to beautify the spot that they don't even think of dumping their junk on it.
Mcuba and Coetzer and the residents surrounding the garden, asked Grocott's Mail to pass on the request that people please don't dump anything (including garden refuse) anywhere – but especially not at the entrance to Oatlands North Park.
"Oatlands North Park is now being restored to its former glory as a place where people can admire birds and flowers and walk their dogs," Coetzer said.
HOW DID THINGS GET THIS WAY?
"The previous Council ordered the placement of skips in various locations around Grahamstown, to help residents deal with their garden waste," said Makana's assistant director of Environmental Health and Cleansing, Johann Esterhuizen.
However, these soon became an easy option for residents to get rid of non-organic waste too.
Soon, everything from old shoes and car tyres to whole television sets started appearing in and around the green skips.
In addition, new houses built on land that was previously open veld meant these skips were no longer appropriate there.
So in 2013, after being briefed about these problems by Esterhuizen's department, councillors moved to relocate some of the garden refuse skips, and close down certain dumping spots.
The Oatlands North Park in Templeton Drive was one.
"We put up a no dumping signboard, and a cable across the entrance to prevent people driving in and dumping," Esterhuizen said.
Within days the no dumping sign had been removed – and people simply dumped their rubbish, of all kinds, in front of the steel cable.
He thinks the initiative by Mcuba and Coetzer is a great idea.
"Well done to them," he said.
"If more people could do that in areas where it doesn't cause an obstruction, I think it would help a lot."
SO WHAT DO I DO WITH MY RUBBISH?
For how to deal with various types of rubbish in Grahamstown go to bit.ly/GrocEnviroWaste1
There you'll find out what to do with:
Plastic, tins and glass Paper and card Leaves, grass and branches.
Plus find out about re-using plastic bags to slow down the mess that lines the Cradock Road and Dr Jacob Zuma Drive fences when the wind blows.
