Waste pickers illuminating the streets of Roodepoort
Donate your old shoes to assist the waste pickers
The Lions Club Wilro Park launched a dual initiative to help the area’s waste pickers on Wednesday, 23 October. The initiatives help to increase the waste pickers’ safety and to give them more comfortable footwear for their arduous journeys.
The Donate the Shoes that you don’t Use Project aims to collect old or unwanted shoes and redistribute them to the waste pickers who walk several kilometres a day up and down Roodepoort’s undulating terrain. Often their trolleys have no brakes and they wear the soles of their shoes thin trying to slow down their colossal sacks of recyclable material. Shoes can be donated at local running clubs or the Lions Club Wilro Park.
The Wilro Park members also handed out high-visibility jackets to the appreciative waste pickers. The branded jackets will help them be unmistakable to passing road users. Dusk and dawn are the most dangerous times for waste pickers, so wrapping them in bright luminous yellow jackets should limit the chance of them being struck by a vehicle.
Sandy van Heerden, PR for Lions Club Wilro Park, encouraged residents to sort their waste into separate bags. ”Pre-sorting the rubbish will help the waste pickers collect more efficiently. They often have to dig through rotting waste to get to the plastic. It’s unhygienic for them and also prevents excess mess around the bin,” said Sandy. She stressed that the collectors do not take glass and that a glass collection bin is available at the Lions Club Wilro Park on Belladonna Road.
The councillor for Ward 83, Florence Roberts wished to acknowledge the good work the club was doing. ”I applaud the Lions Club Wilro Park for recognising that waste collectors are just people trying to make a living in this depressed economy. They collect and sort almost half the waste in and around the city. The takkies and safety jackets will be a blessing to them. Lions are always demonstrating that we all need to help and alleviate the hardships we see others endure around us.”
For more information, contact Sandy on 083 564 6388.
