White River builds relationships to fix local refuse removal

April 2025 

In White River, a citizen-led group, The Power of 8000, has cleaned up public spaces by building alliances, proving that working together can bring about lasting change.

What is the problem?

For years, the town of White River in Mpumalanga was littered with waste. Bins overflowed on the streets, and trash lay strewn around the town’s parks. Community members grew increasingly frustrated at the deteriorating and polluted state of their town. 

How are they solving it?

Starting in 2021, residents concerned about the condition of White River came together to form The Power of 8000, a community action group that has built strong, reciprocal relationships with the municipality, local businesses and residents to successfully transform public spaces and services.

The group leads an ongoing project, Operation Asblik, to sustainably improve refuse removal from public bins. According to Lisa Gordon-Davis, spokesperson of the Power of 8000, their efforts have sustainably reduced litter in White River by between 70% to 80%. 

What made it work?

• Mapping Bins and Litter: The project started by mapping all existing bins on an interactive digital map and noting that bins were missing in major litter hotspots. 

• Placing more – and better – bins: The Power of 8000 fundraised to purchase more than 60 additional bins to place in public spaces. They also worked with the local government to distribute bins obtained by the municipality some time ago, but that had not yet been placed. After servicing the bins for a while, they realised that concrete bins were difficult to empty, so they began an effort to upgrade existing bins to metal drums on a swinging stand that can more easily be tipped over.

• Growing community support: Underlying the group’s success is mobilising what Gordon-Davis describes as “a strong, active citizenry.” Schools, churches, youth groups and the White River Ratepayers Association help with fundraising and volunteering.  By setting themselves up as an NGO, The Power of 8000 has encouraged local businesses and residents to make donations, gaining sponsorships of bins, skips and more.

• Transporting waste: Gordon-Davis says, “Our biggest win to date has been getting a vehicle. That's enabled us to actually do the work that we need to do. Without our vehicle, we can't service all the bins.” When a local car dealership, Westvaal Numbi Ford, saw how effectively the Power of 8000 was cleaning up parks, they donated a bakkie. With a vehicle, the group services the bins two to three times a week, using up to 120 refuse bags every day. 

• Social Media Campaigns: To help meet the constant need for bin bags, The Power of 8000 created an online challenge coordinated on the community’s WhatsApp group and social media pages. At the start of 2025, White River residents and local businesses donated more than 50,000 black bags – enough to keep servicing all the public bins in the town for more than a year. 

• Collaboration: According to Rhodes Abell, chairperson of The Power of 8000, the biggest factor in White River’s success is collaborative relationships. When the Power of 8000 started, Abell says, “Some of the community were exceptionally negative and aggressive towards the municipality…But if you are seen as an aggressor, you are not going to get anything done.”

He continues, “The only logical alternative is to build bridges with [the municipality], which is not all that easy to do.” Yet, over the years, the residents of White River have worked hard to develop a relationship of reciprocity, assisting the City of Mbombela's parks and waste departments to better carry out services for the benefit of everyone, making use of both local government and community resources. “They help us, and we help them,” says Abell. 

Maintaining streets and parks clean in any town is never-ending work. “We installed a new bin today, and another new one tomorrow,” says Abell. But White River’s transformation proves that when communities develop strong relationships, real change is possible.

Acknowledgements:

Article by: Maru Attwood

Photograph: Maru Attwood

Get your community involved

Is there a community-driven group or caring business in your area? A dedicated group of committed people can effectively solve local problems.

Think about starting or joining community groups like a street WhatsApp group, residents' association, or community policing forum (CPF) to get help and to stay informed and involved in local issues.

How to start a WhatsApp group

How to start a residents' association

How to set up a community policing forum

How to set up a neighbourhood watch

How to organise community action

How to use media to create pressure for change

Know your rights – how local government works

It’s important to understand how your local government works so that you can work with them to support what they are doing while your community continues to keep them accountable and deliver services on time. Remember you have a constitutional right to many of the services provided by local government, as well as to accountability and transparency, wherever you live and regardless of how much you earn. It is also where money collected from taxes and rates goes.