Waste recycling economy gains traction in Jozi

 

The rollout of the City of Johannesburg’s “separation at source” waste management programme, which is aimed at diverting recyclable waste away from landfill sites and encouraging members of the community to see waste as a treasure, is steadily gaining traction.

 

Piloted by Pikitup, the City’s waste management entity, in September 2009 at the Waterval Depot in Region B – which services areas such as Westdene, Northcliff and Roosevelt – the programme now covers all the City’s seven regions and six of its 11 depots.

 

The “separation at source” process entails residents using three separate receptacles to store their waste in until such time that it is collected. The normal 240l black refuse bin is used only for non-recyclable household waste, while the two extra bags are utilised for recycling waste. The clear, durable plastic bag is for recycling glass, bottles, polystyrene materials, cans and plastics; whereas the reusable white hessian bag is for recycling all paper, boxes and cardboard materials.

 

These bags are provided weekly free of charge by cooperatives. 

The programme not only encourages residents to recycle their household refuse – which is ordinarily tossed away – but it also promotes job creation through the exchange of money for recyclable waste.

In total, more than 486 000 households in the city are covered by the programme.

 

In the 2013-2014 financial year alone, more than 14 000 tons of recycled waste was successfully diverted away from landfill sites. Although this represented only 17% of residents’ participation, Pikitup’s acting Managing Director, Jonathan Thekiso, is satisfied that Johannesburg is, through this programme, contributing to “national and global environmental objectives”.

He says the City aims to increase residents’ participation to 70% by 2016.

 

“To achieve this, the City is working on strengthening partnerships with communities through the Jozi@Work programme, which will result in waste management function in households being allocated to local cooperatives,” says Thekiso.

Already, 24 cooperatives have been set up and 519 job opportunities created.

 

“These partnerships have, however, not been as successful as anticipated because of a number of challenges, mainly related to land and supporting infrastructure still being developed for them,” says Thekiso.

“There have, however, been successes, with increased income for some of the cooperatives. About 300 reclaimers have also been partnered with, resulting in some of them having easier working relations with partner cooperatives, including having to travel shorter distances.”

One of the programme’s success stories is the Waterval Depot, where community participation has risen to 48%.

Twenty-five waste removal trucks have been allocated to cooperatives working in the area, while Pikitup has increased the number of community partnerships and given a big boost to the private recycling sector.

“Other highlights include reclaimers from the landfill site being formed into cooperatives in the Southdale Depot area, as well as the creation of a model to manage illegal dumping spots with community partners in Zandspruit,” says Thekiso.

According to the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (PRASA), almost one in every two plastic bottles is collected for recycling. Once collected, sorted and baled, plastic bottles are delivered to factories for reprocessing into recycled flakes or pellets. Paper recycling rates in South Africa increased to nearly 60% in 2013. 

Despite increased awareness, large amounts of recoverable paper and cardboard packaging are still unnecessarily dumped in landfill sites and open spaces.

Concludes Thekiso: “Some of the benefits of recycling are creating a clean and healthy environment, creating jobs, saving valuable landfill airspace and building a recycling economy. Recycling encourages economic activity brought about by the recycling value chain.”