Pikitup pledges to still collect refuse in the festive season

14 November 2017

 

Pikitup, the City of Johannesburg’s waste management entity, has reassured residents and businesses that refuse collection services will be delivered on all public holidays except Christmas Day, Monday, 25 December 2017.

 

The affected residents and businesses have to keep their refuse until Monday, 1 January 2018, when services resume in the new year.

Pikitup expects the festive season waste collection programme to run without any glitches despite the higher volume of waste increasing during the December holidays as more people take leave.

The waste management entity has also urged Johannesburg residents to dispose of their waste in a manner that will reduce illegal dumping and overloading of bins.

“Waste that is not responsibly disposed of usually results in a health hazard stemming from rat and fly infestation,” says Pikitup’s Muzi Mkhwanazi.

As is custom during this time of the year, Pikitup is making a special appeal to City of Joburg residents to refrain from giving its employees Christmas gifts.

“Pikitup does not permit them to solicit Christmas donations from residents,” says Mkhwanazi.

Last year during the festive season, 10 people, including Pikitup employees, were arrested in three separate incidents in southern Johannesburg on charges of fraud and misrepresentation.

Two men dressed in Pikitup uniforms were arrested in Mondeor after a member of the Community Policing Forum questioned them about their presence in the area. In the Glenvista-Bassonia area, four men, also pretending to be Pikitup employees, were arrested. Three more were apprehended in Mulbarton.