Ward 118 Clr Neuren Pietersen launched a littering prevention campaign for his ward.
Pietersen launched the campaign after he took a walk with the town inspector down Jules Street.
“It became clear that the rubbish which is left on the pavement is as a result of poor refuse management by the street vendors and the shops. I then requested assistance from the South Deep Pikitup depot to provide the street vendors with bags through the participation of a few shops to dispense the bags,” he said.
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The campaign teaches residents that littering degrades the environment.
“It weakens the economy as tax money must be allocated to maintaining the situation instead of improving it. There is that urban myth that littering creates jobs. It may create a few litter picking jobs, but we must ask ourselves if we want to be a nation of garbage collectors or do we want to be builders, teachers and engineers? Do we want the money to be spent on social housing or removing illegal dumping? These are the compromises municipalities and governments must make,” he said.
Pietersen said commercial refuse must be disposed of as per the category of waste that they produce.
“This may take the form of a wheelie bin, a skip, daily collection or hazardous and wet waste collection.
“Every residential household is charged for a wheelie bin whether or not one is on site. It is up to the resident or the landlord to ensure that they have a wheelie bin. This is the only legal way for the disposal of household refuse.
“Placing one’s refuse in a black bag on the pavement is classified as illegal dumping and can result in a fine of up to R1 500.”
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He said informal settlements are provided with skips.
“I have been engaging with Pikitup to provide both Denver and Jumpers informal settlements with additional skips as the current number of skips are not able to cope with the refuse generated.
“Residents must also consider recycling or separating at source as Johannesburg is short on space for more dumps and the current dumps are reaching capacity. Separating at source means to sort waste into paper, metal, glass and plastic. These are then collected by the waste collectors for recycling,” said Pietersen.
“I have placed the prevention of dumping and littering as a core goal for my tenure #Ward118Cleans. It is done in conjunction with the mayor’s programme A Re Sebetseng, which is held on the third Saturday of every month. I encourage residents to take part by organising street groups to spend some time cleaning a public space of their choice to show that we want to live in a Johannesburg we can be proud of,” he said.
Residents are encouraged to take garden refuse to the garden refuse site at the corner of 5th Street and 6th Avenue in Bez Valley. They also accept small loads of building waste. Large loads can be taken to the Jack Simmer Dump on Johan Rissik Road, Germiston.
Pietersen said dumping and littering is not welcome in Ward 118 as it is a health risk and crime follows grime.
“I will be engaging with billing, JMPD and Pikitup to ensure that this is enforced,” he said.
