The rollout of the City of Johannesburg and Pikitup’s Separation at Source waste minimisation programme, which is aimed at diverting recyclable waste away from landfills and encouraging members of the community to see waste as a resource, is steadily gaining traction.
Piloted by Pikitup in September 2009 at the Waterval Depot in Region B, the programme now covers all the city’s seven regions in six of its eleven depots. In total, more than 486 000 households in the city are covered by the programme. In the 2013/14 financial year alone, more than 14 000 tonnes of recycled waste was successfully diverted away from landfill sites. Although this represents approximately 17% of residents participation, the City of Joburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee on Environmental, Infrastructure and Services Department, MMC Matshidiso Mfikoe, is satisfied that Johannesburg is contributing to national and global environmental objectives. He says the City aims to increase residents’ participation to 70% by 2016. To achieve this, the city is working on strengthening partnerships with communities through the Jozi@work programme, which will result in waste management services to households being allocated to local cooperatives. “Already, 24 cooperatives have been set up and 519 job opportunities created. About 300 reclaimers have also been partnered with, resulting in some of them having easier working relations with partner cooperatives, including having to travel shorter distances. These partnerships have, however, not been as successful as anticipated because of a number of challenges, mainly related to land and supporting infrastructure still being developed for them,” says MMC Mfikoe.
Success story
One of the programme success stories is the Waterval Depot, where community participation has risen to approximately 48%. Twenty-five waste removal trucks have been allocated to cooperatives working in different areas of the city. This has increased the number of community partnerships and given a big boost to the private recycling sector. “Other highlights include reclaimers from the landfill site being formed into cooperatives in the Southdale Depot area, as well as the creation of a model to manage illegal dumping spots with community partners in Zandspruit,” says MMC Mfokoe. National Recycling Week To mark National Recycling Week, Pikitup calls on all Johannesburg residents to take part in the various recycling initiatives to contribute to a cleaner and healthier environment.
