Speaking in Germiston at the seminar on May 11, held to discuss environmental legal compliance, the Member of the Mayoral Committee on Environmental Resource Management, Clr Ndosi Shongwe said the metro is working hard to address pollution.
The 2014 findings by the National Air Quality found that the metro had the worst air pollution.
“The findings are an unwelcome poor image on our part and we need you as industries to join hands with us to significantly reduce carbon emissions.
“One of our priorities is to create a clean and green city and the issue of gas emissions has become critical,” said Shongwe.
“As part of its response strategy to ensuring cleaner air, Ekurhuleni has established a specialised unit – the Legal Compliance – which has been put in place to assist industries obtain atmospheric emission licences and provide guidelines on how to comply with set emission limits.
“The specialised unit is also responsible for monitoring the industrial community through spot checks and ensuring compliance to the municipal by-laws.
“As industries we need to be mindful of the health risk of pollution to our people.
“On our part as the municipality, we have begun a process to green our municipal by-laws which will see an amendment to some laws that govern harmful emissions.
“We believe this will ensure that all industrial and municipal activities comply with the standards and requirements of protecting and caring for the environment,” she said.
