The City has encouraged the public to recycle as the number of stakeholders dwindle due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The City of Johannesburg attracts more than 120 000 volunteers annually for clean-up campaigns, however, this has not been the case for 2020. This has pushed Executive Mayor Geoff Makhubo to call on the communities of the city to make recycling a part of their lives. According to the mayor, the City’s recycling efforts are in much need of an injection of energy and creativity to ensure minimal waste ends up at landfill sites.
Makhubo has urged all the residents of Joburg to rethink, reduce, reuse and repair all waste products in their households, work, school and public spaces. According to the City, in 2019 recycling initiatives diverted over 200 000 tons of waste from the City’s landfill sites, saving over R40 million of disposal cost. The City also recently awarded six co-operatives with certificates for their recycling efforts at the Linbro Park landfill site, helping preserve and protect the environment.
Makhubo said, “We need to inculcate a culture of recycling a large percentage (97 per cent) of domestic waste in our communities to ensure we keep our city clean and our waste away from slowly declining landfill space. The City’s waste management entity, Pikitup, has introduced the Separation at Source Programme to instil a culture of recycling among residents of Johannesburg. The initiative encourages homeowners to separate recyclable materials from the source – their homes. Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Mpho Moerane added that recycling is a growing industry in the country and has the potential to reduce high levels of unemployment.
She said, “Recycling reduces the amount of waste to landfills, conserves natural resources, increases economic security and prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials.” Moerane warned that despite waste diversion rates, the City still faces the grim possibility of running out of landfill sites in the next four and a half years.
