KOUGA Municipality has been placed second in the 2019 Eastern Cape Greenest Municipality Competition.
Kouga Community Services Portfolio Councillor, Daniel Benson, and members of the municipality’s Waste and Environmental Management team received the award from the East Cape MEC for Environmental Affairs, Tourism and Finance, Mlungisi Mvoko, at a function in Hamburg last week.
Benson said Kouga was proud of the achievement, especially as it was the first time the municipality had participated in the competition.
“Kouga has been accelerating its efforts to go green this past year and the award is confirmation that we are on the right track, “ he said.
“We are very grateful to our officials, communities and stakeholder groups for the manner in which they have contributed to us receiving this accolade.”
He said the awards programme aimed to encourage sustainable development at local government level.
“The judges looked at all aspects of sustainable development, from waste management programmes and awareness campaigns to eco-friendly business practices and environmental innovations.”
He said the municipality’s recent successes included dedicated efforts to keep Kouga clean.
“Not only have we had several joint clean-ups with our community and business partners, but also our regio-nal landfill site at Humansdorp has been upgraded and new drop-off zones were established at Jeffreys Bay, St Francis Bay and Oyster Bay.
“An official recycler has furthermore been appointed; recycling facilities have been put in place and recycling bins have been donated to several schools and crèches to get our youngest residents involved in saving the planet.
“Wheelie bins have also been distri-buted to households in several towns so as to reduce communities’ reliance on black plastic bags and waste skips.”
He said the award also recognised Kouga Municipality’s efforts to improve the management of eco-sensitive areas such as the Seekoei estuary and to address environmental challenges such as dune encroachment at Oyster Bay and beach erosion at St Francis Bay.
“The municipality’s internal efforts to cut back on waste, especially paper usage, were also commended. The transition from paper agendas to electronic agendas, for example, was not easy but our officials and councillors proved that it can be done if there is the will to do so,” he said.
He said the municipality’s introduction of energy-saving LED and solar public lighting were among the other eco-friendly initiatives Kouga had started implementing.
“Other highlights this past year included Kouga launching Africa’s first eco-friendly road incorporating waste plastic, our climate change partnership with the German municipality Ilsfeld and our ongoing tree-planting drive,” he said.
The municipality won R300 000 for coming second. Benson said the prize money would be put towards urban greening projects.
Umzimvubu Municipality from the Alfred Nzo district were placed first in the 2019 competition.
