The registration of waste pickers across Johannesburg is underway with 1 200 already recorded in Region D by the City’s Department of Environment and Infrastructure Services in conjunction with Pikitup.
The registration is conducted to afford waste pickers training opportunities and to benefit from waste minimisation value chain projects. MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Nico de Jager said waste pickers are one of the key stakeholders in increasing the yield of recyclable materials diverted from Pikitup’s landfill sites which is the ultimate objective of the City’s waste minimisation efforts.
De Jager said the waste pickers’ contribution to saving the remaining landfill airspace could not be quantified due to the informal nature of their business activities. The department has also established a forum where waste pickers are registered. “We will, therefore, consolidate these lists to better engage with waste pickers in the future. We will engage in how we can assist with protective clothing, tools of the trade, and inoculations through corporate sponsorship,” said de Jager.
Some of the objectives of the registration process included:
- To recognise waste pickers who are currently in the system for integration into the City’s solid waste management system as stakeholders
- To verify, record and quantify waste picker contribution to waste minimisation by collecting statistics of recyclable materials collected by waste pickers
- To have accurate records of the number of waste pickers that can be used for planning programmes, selection of people to access different opportunities such as training etc. This will ensure that the process is fair and transparent and it can be properly monitored to make all opportunities equitable
- To allow for new waste pickers to be registered and recognised when they enter the system
- All waste pickers ( South Africans and documented foreign nationals) will be registered and issued with a waste pickers identity card.
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