“Toxic” Fears as Fires Burn at Unfenced Nelson Mandela Bay Landfill

Residents in parts of Nelson Mandela Bay are raising alarms over plumes of what they describe as “toxic smoke” billowing from a burning, unfenced landfill site. The sporadic fires at the Arlington Tip have become a recurring nuisance and health concern, with the latest blaze igniting on Saturday evening just as the previous one was brought under control.

Ward 1 Councillor Dries van der Westhuizen confirmed the issue, stating that while there is no official proof the smoke is hazardous, the description comes directly from concerned locals. “I used the word toxic because a few residents referred to it that way,” Van der Westhuizen told IOL. The municipality is expected to carry out official tests on Monday to determine the smoke’s composition.

A Deep-Seated Problem with Multiple Causes

The councillor explained that the root cause is a lack of security. The tip has no perimeter fence, allowing hundreds of people to access the site daily. Many are informal scrappers who start fires to burn the plastic coating off wires to salvage copper. Others, he said, light fires out of sheer malice. Nearby bushfires have also been known to spread onto the landfill.

The nature of the blazes makes them particularly difficult to extinguish. “Fires at the tip normally burn deep under the rubbish,” Van der Westhuizen noted. “Thus it is not just a case of pouring water… fire trucks, bulldozers and excavators are required.”

Part of a Broader Bay Fire Crisis

The Arlington fires are not isolated. The municipality reported 13 separate fires across areas including Motherwell, Kariega, and Malabar just last Wednesday, stemming from vegetation and rubbish blazes. While authorities say those incidents are under control, the persistent tipping site fires highlight a specific, unresolved infrastructure and enforcement failure.

For now, residents are left to watch the smoke swirl, unsure of what they’re breathing. The promised municipal tests will be a first step, but the larger solutionsecuring the site to prevent easy access and arsonremains a clear, yet unaddressed, challenge. Until the tip is fenced and properly managed, the toxic clouds over Arlington are likely to keep rising.