Johannesburg - The City of Johannesburg’s Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) said it was closely following a fire that broke out at the Goudkoppies Landfill site in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“Pikitup is on top of the situation and working hand in glove with Emergency Management Services (EMS) to bring this fire and smoke under control,” EISD MMC Michael Sun said on Monday afternoon.
“Informal recyclers, waste pickers as well as contractors to Pikitup have joined the effort to ensure the landfill site can remain open and execute its mandate,” he said. “This operation is under way 24 hours a day until the fire is completely extinguished.”
The department said it remained unclear as to exactly what sparked the blaze, but investigations are already under way to identify the fire’s cause and prevent a recurrence.
During an oversight visit on Monday morning, Sun further observed that several waste pickers were still burning fires inside the landfill site despite security personnel efforts to stop them from doing so.
“Pikitup has made contingency plans to ensure the fire does not interrupt refuse collection services in and around the area by diverting waste disposal to other landfill sites,” the EISD said.
The Star