Waste not want not
While the recycling issue remains a big problem in Knysna as highlighted by KPH last week, it is a piece of a larger puzzle that constitutes waste disposal in Knysna.
A regular day in the local organic waste disposal and rubbish recycling industries looks something like this:
Knysna Municipality picks up rubbish from around town on a daily basis and offloads it at its waste transfer station in Auction Mart Avenue next to the Waste By Rail station. It is there that the municipality compacts black-bag waste before it is transported to the appropriate landfill sites, and drops off the rest at CX Recycling where owner Chantal Julyan’s teams sift through it to determine what can and can’t be recycled.
KPH last week reported that the waste at Julyan’s depot isn’t sorted and transported away quickly enough which is causing a worrisome backlog.
And the waste at the adjacent waste transfer station could also be building up according to Knysna waste management expert Debbie Davies.
Recent speculation has claimed that this upheaping could all be adding to Knysna’s rodent woes, but the growing problem of waste disposal isn’t limited to these two sites or solely responsible for a spike in the town’s rodent population.
This week several organisations raised other concerns as well.
When it comes to Knysna Municipality, however, municipal spokesperson Christopher Bezuidenhout has stated that they remove waste from the station twice a day, and that a service provider has been appointed to deal with the backlog.
According to Garden Route National Park Knysna section manager Megan Taplin, it has a negative impact on the wildlife too. “Chemicals and elements released from plastic and other waste material break down and can affect plants and animals,” she said.
Knysna Animal Welfare Society’s Dr Anesca Loots pointed out that while stray cats and dogs feed off scraps, strewn waste poses a bigger threat to cows and other livestock in Knysna’s northern areas as they cannot differentiate between what is and is not plastic. She added that illnesses derived from waste and potentially dirty water are largely gastro-related, and can be transferred between animals and humans.
For Knysna Provincial Hospital’s Dr Lauren Hutton, one example of a disease that can be contracted by people is salmonella, a type of food poisoning. She also further pointed out that E. coli is another common disease that can affect humans, particularly from contaminated water.
While there are certain diseases that can be contracted from waste, dirty water, and the animals around this, there are measures that can be taken to avoid them such as washing your hands well after any contact with waste/dirty water/rodents/birds; not eating from waste bins or drinking stagnant water; and using gloves/aprons when assisting with waste collection.
In the interim, a group of concerned citizens by the name of Renew Able Knysna have also started a collective to address the problem and have called for Knysnarians to help by educating themselves in what can and can’t be recycled in Knysna at the moment.
‘We bring you the latest Knysna | Garden Route news’
Source: Knysna Plett Herald News