The state of Louis Trichardt's municipal dumping site continues to cause an outcry.

The Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association has issued a media release on the non-compliance with normal permit conditions.

“We visited the site on November 11 and were informed that the compactor or front-end loader had broken down and was out of commission for the previous week, but at that moment it was being utilised to compact refuse,” reads the statement.

A signboard should appear at the entrance to the site that should contain information on the type of site, the times of operation, and the name and contact number of the person responsible. 

“There is no signboard at the gate,” reports the manager of the SRPA, Ms Aretha Smith. It is a requirement that  proper recording should be done.

“The guard at the gate did no take down registration numbers, volume of refuse dumped or the type of refuse dumped. The reason for this is that, should toxic waste be dumped, a record of the vehicle is available and the person can be held accountable,” reads the statement.

The SRPA said that the operation of the site left much to be desired.  A landfill site is usually operated according to a cell system. “Two parallel sandwalls should be made about 20m apart … the refuse should be dumped between these sandwalls or ‘burms’…This area should, where possible,  be kept to a 20 x 20m work face and covered at least once a week with ground or building material to create a cell,” reads the statement.

A breakdown of equipment was cited by the Makhado Municipality as an important reason why the accumulated waste stretches from the disposal area up to the Vondeling Road. It was “due to the breakdown of our refuse compactor machine, we also experienced breakdowns with other bulldozers which are deployed when the one for the dumping site is out of order. At the moment, the compactor has been repaired and is  functioning. The accumulated refuse will be removed from  the gate to where it is supposed to be compacted and covered with soil,” stated Mr Elias Mugari, the municipality's director of community services.

The municipality emphasised the importance of equipment that must be in working order. “Permit conditions state that waste should be compacted and covered with soil on a daily basis and, if the compactor is out of order, that contributes to non-compliance, hence the compactor should always be running,” stated Mugari. 

The SRPA states that, during a breakdown of equipment , dumping at the site should not just take place randomly, but according to an orderly, prescribed method. Smith said that when a breakdown of equipment should occur, an adjacent area should be identified and all refuse should be dumped there.

“The refuse dumped during the breakdown can be worked into the work area by the operator when there is time or after the normal working hours of the site to ensure that day to day operations can continue,” Smith said.

A health hazard that bothered the SRPA was the absence of control over the flies.

“There were no control measures in place to prevent the breeding of lies, thus causing a great number of flies to breed on the site,” Smith said.