Contractors doing construction work and residents extending their homes could be forced to submit proof that they have correctly disposed of their rubble, or pay a fine.
That is if the public health department forges ahead with a proposal to formulate a new bylaw that would regulate the disposing of building rubble.
The illegal dumping of rubble was a contentious issue at a public health portfolio committee meeting on Tuesday.
Public health acting executive director Tsietsi Mokonenyane said cleaning up after contractors was costing the city millions.
“Public health is only responsible for domestic waste.
“Other departments must come to the party and decide how they are going to get rid of builder’s rubble.
“It’s very expensive to remove builder’s rubble – we spend millions on this. We don’t have the staff and we don’t have the budget for this.”
Mokonenyane requested that the human settlements department be responsible for the removal of illegally dumped builder’s rubble while the infrastructure department be responsible for clearing illegally dumped tar.
But councillors in the committee proposed that anyone who dumps illegally be fined.
ANC councillor Queenie Pink proposed that the committee draw up a bylaw which would allow the municipality to fine offenders.
At present, contractors are required to submit proof that they did, in fact, properly dispose of their rubble.
Infrastructure and engineering executive director Walter Shaidi said the department had decided it would withhold project completion certificates if there was rubble on site.
Shaidi, however, warned that ensuring that rubble was collected would be difficult as the SA National Roads Agency was responsible for most of the roadworks and the city could not regulate how it disposed of rubble.
A report on the possibility of drawing up a bylaw would be presented at the next portfolio committee meeting.