Landfill that caused a stink ready for business again

Durban waste management company EnviroServ‚ which has been embroiled in a dispute over foul odours‚ says it is ready to resume business at its landfill site in Shongweni.

“We have the keys to open our business‚ but we are just waiting on a schedule trade permit from the eThekwini municipality‚” said Dean Thompson‚ the company’s chief executive‚ at a breakfast briefing on Tuesday.

The company has been involved in a court battle with community group Upper Highway Air for nearly two years.

EnviroServ came under fire after Shongweni and Hillcrest residents complained that a foul smell emanating from the landfill site was affecting their health and the environment.

The company’s initial response was to deny that the site was the source of the smell. Thompson claimed there was no “scientific evidence to link EnviroServ to the odour” as technical and toxicology studies were still underway at the time.

The company later took responsibility for being the source of the foul odour and acknowledged that they could have handled complaints by the neighbouring community better.

“When the people complained and said that there is a smell‚ our response was supposed to be‚ ’Yes‚ there is a smell’‚ but in the beginning the tendency was to say‚ ’No‚ there is no smell’‚” said EnviroServ spokesman Thabiso Taaka.

Taaka conceded on Tuesday that residents should have been informed at an earlier stage that the odour coming from the landfill site was not harmful.

TimesLIVE reported previously that the company had attributed a change in government regulations‚ which impacted on how waste must be treated‚ as the reason for the odour.