Illegal dumping is a costly headache for Cape Town.

The metro on Friday announced that it will now spend another R3.9 million on clearing illegal dumping spots in Dunoon, Wolwerivier and Witsands.

The funds are from the metro’s Rapid Response Programme budget and will see the employment of 26 more EPWP workers and three more supervisors.

The City of Cape Town’s the recently launched Rapid Response Programme supports existing efforts to tackle thousands of illegal dumping hotspots.

An additional R200 million has been allocated to the issue this year, bringing the total budget to over R300 million.

The municipality said although the extra resources would help maintain general cleanliness, behaviour change was still the key to addressing illegal dumping.

Authorities say residents needed to call each other out when they saw or heard of this practise, and let others know that it wouldn’t be tolerated by the broader community.

Any person found caught doing so is issued with a Section 56 written notice, which carries a fine of up to R5,000 and could lead to the dumper having his or her vehicle impounded.