Cape Town: The Cleansing team of the town is working hard to prepare for the winter. The Urban Waste Management (UWM) Directorate of the City of Cape Town soon to welcome R39 million for seasonal Winter Preparedness Programme. The capital helped to reduce the flood and pollution risks, starting since May 01, 2024.
Reportedly, the programme involves removing of litter from gutters that could cause blocked drains, if it rains and prevents waste from the washing out to the rivers and oceans. The UWM Winter Preparedness Programme was spearheaded by the UWM’s Cleansing Department. the programme runs between May 01, 2024 to September 30, 2024.
Considerably, the work is a top-up to the ongoing cleansing services that are already providing this through the year. It also has a full-fledged action plan that mainly focusses on reducing the floods and pollution.
The action plan of City of Cape Town includes the removal of illegal dumping, street sweeping programmes, litter picking on open spaces, gutters, verges and river banks. The plan also considers installing and servicing of the street litter bins, washing streets with water tankers and sweeping highways and byways using the mechanical equipment.
Notably, programme runs from Monday to Friday for eight hours daily. A total of 1,117 temporary work opportunities were created and 26 vehicles were hired to carry out the work.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Urban Waste Management – Alderman Grant Twigg said that the Cleansing Department’s seasonal Winter Preparedness Programme is a full swing in preparing various areas across the city for winter.
The teams are intensively cleaning the litter to prevent the risk of flood and pollution of rivers and waterways, ahead of the rainy season. When it rains, litter gets into the sewer and stormwater networks can cause blockages or it gets washed away into the waterways where it flows out to the ocean.
Furthermore, the residents can help by supporting the efforts of UWM to reduce the risk of flooding. Alderman Twigg urged people not to litter or dump, rather use the solid waste services provided to get rid of the waste.
