The City of Johannesburg conducted an environmental waste management campaign at Hikhensile Clinic in Ivory Park on 3 March.
The campaign was aimed to address the increasing illegal dumping in the area. An environmental health practitioner at Region A, Sharlene Moshidi revealed that since 2016 there has been an alarming number of illegal dumping sites sprouting up, regardless of the services rendered by Pikitup.
“Pikitup comes and collects rubbish but people still dump their rubbish illegally. Today, we went on a door-to-door campaign and residents complained about waste not being picked up on time, which led to the illegal dumping,” said Moshidi, who further said that they chose Hikhensile Clinic because it was one of the places that experienced illegal dumping.
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“People even dump waste at the gate of the clinic,” she exclaimed.
Representatives from Pikitup were also part of the campaign as well as emergency services, who campaigned on fire safety and taught residents about emergency numbers. Pest control was also provided to residents. Environmental workers checked houses with rat burrows, placed poison in them and closed them to control the number and spread of rodents, which also pose a health hazard in the area.
“The campaign was a success because we had the opportunity of engaging the community and they showed appreciation for it,” she concluded.
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