Piles of garbage lie uncollected in the backyard of a couple of shops in the main street. Phone calls to the local municipality have not solved this mucky problem. “I am at the end of my tether,” said a local food outlet owner. “I phone at least once a week. I keep my restaurant clean inside, but since I arrived in town three months ago, I have had this problem with the removal of refuse in the backyard.” The one large container in the backyard is obviously not enough. The container is used by the food outlet as well as two clothing shops. Another complaint is that when the municipal workers do collect the refuse, they only empty the container and leave all the debris around it lying on the ground. “If they empty the container, they can just stick around and I will fill up the container again for them to remove,” offered Mr Johnny Boshoff from Nando’s. He said that it would take three trips to remove all the trash. On Monday morning (27th) Mr Boshoff called out the Municipal health inspector, who agreed that the situation was a health risk. He immediately phoned the waste removal section, but by noon, the piles had just grown. Sometimes the refuse is removed two times in seven days, but it is evident that this is not enough by far. “When I complained last week, I said I was going to the newspapers and the Council official threw the phone down in my ear - but at least the waste got removed,” said Mr Boshoff. But only some was removed - for the rest he had to hire people at his personal expense. “If the municipality can only come every second day, it will be much better,” he said. Refuse lying on the ground waiting to be collected seems to be a general problem in town. Residents often complain about the town getting more and more litter-strewn. In the meantime, the municipality sent out a circular, dated March 9, concerning storage, removal and disposal of health-care-risk waste. The onus was placed on owners and managers of businesses and premises. They have to ensure that the health-care-risk waste generated on the premises is kept and stored in the premises’ yard until it is collected. The question arose what the use was of keeping health-care-risk waste on the premises if the waste was not collected anyway. Mr Peter Magwala, Director: Community Services, explained that the circular on health-care-risk waste referred mostly to needles. “We had two or three cases where employees were seriously injured by these dangerous objects. We want to ensure the safety of employees as well as the safety of the public,” Mr Magwala said on March 28. Needles and other health-care-risk objects shouldn’t be put in ordinary black plastic bags or cardboard boxes. “Health-care-risk waste must be stored in approved receptacles which must be supplied by the owner/manager of the business/premises. Containers with health-care waste should be correctly labelled/marked on the outside, for example needles”, reads the circular. Concerning the refuse removal problem of shops in Songozwi Street, Mr Magwala said that they would look into the matter. “Our policy is that refuse must be collected regularly, full stop! We don’t negotiate on that one.” Magwala said that there are two teams from the technical services department. One works during office hours. “Then we have a team collecting refuse from 16:00 until 18:00 and this team is working even on Saturdays and Sundays,” Magwala said.