New collection points for hazardous waste

In its quest to make Namibia the country with the highest success rate in the 3R’s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, The Recycle Namibia Forum (RNF) announced that its member, the City of Windhoek will be providing a further solution to assist residents of the City to reduce their environmental impact.

RNF Coordinator, Anita Witt said: “Since its establishment in 2009, the RNF has been involved in several projects aimed at promoting the 3R’s. As such, we receive numerous enquiries from residents throughout the country requesting information and solutions to help them reduce their environmental impact by providing easy access to recycling opportunities or collection sites for items such as batteries, light bulbs etc. I am pleased to inform the public that the City of Windhoek has headed the call and is in the process of establishing collection points for florescent tubes and car as well as household batteries at all waste transfer stations and the customer care centres of the City of Windhoek.”
Witt said that the Solid Waste Department of the City has confirmed that the Section Engineer is putting the necessary structures in place in order to facilitate the collection of these items which are hazardous and should not be disposed of in normal household waste. Added Witt: “The Namibia Environmental & Wildlife Society (NEWS) office will no longer serve as a drop off point for these items. We sincerely thank NEWS, also an RNF member, for their assistance in the past, and are very grateful that the City of Windhoek has come up with an alternative solution to ensure containment, collection and storage of hazardous materials which often enters landfill due to it being collected as part of the normal household waste.”
Witt urges the public to be safe and cautious when dealing with household batteries and florescent tubes, and to ensure that these items remain out of reach of children and anyone else it could pose a risk to.