Media - 2010 Media Briefing Statement

Clean Up Day 2010

One of the key deliverables for Pikitup of the IDP of the City of Johannesburg is to ensure the cleanliness of the City through education, awareness and by-law enforcement. To achieve this objective, Pikitup has initiated a city wide Clean City campaign which is being rolled out over a two and a half year period.

One of the highlights of the campaign is a city wide Pikitup Clean Up Day which will this year take place on 05 June 2010, World Environment Day, which is six days before the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On this day, Pikitup, together with thousands of Joburg residents will embark on a citywide clean up of the city. The event forms part of the Clean City campaign aimed at changing the attitudes of residents and businesses in the City of Johannesburg towards litter and illegal dumping. Clean Up Day, one of the key highlights of the Clean City campaign, was declared an annual event in 2009 by the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Cllr Amos Masondo following the success of the event in creating awareness around the problem of litter and illegal dumping and facilitating the mindset change of Joburgers.

In June 2009 over 30 000 Joburgers volunteered for a city wide clean-up on Clean Up Day. During the clean-up over 63 000 refuse bags were collected, which amounted to 255 tonnes of waste. This year we are looking to double those statistics and have thus forged more partnerships to enable us to proudly showcase a truly world class African city during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond. We have collaborated with Media partners, with notable Joburg celebrities, Business partners such as Mondi Recycling and ADT with the aim of optimizing our education outreach. The success of Clean Up Day has caught the imagination of the country, growing to become a provincial campaign, with Ekurhuleni and Tshwane both taking part in this year’s Clean Up Day.

Pikitup’s infrastructure will be creatively utilized on Clean Up Day to ensure that waste cleared from the streets is appropriately disposed off. The infrastructure includes four (4) landfill sites and 42 garden sites which are the backbone of Pikitup’s integrated waste management service. The landfill sites, located strategically across Johannesburg are used to dump the 1.6 million tons of general waste generated by Joburg every year. The Marie Louise Goudkoppies, Robinson Deep and Ennerdale landfill sites are, however, under increasing pressure as space is rapidly decreasing while transport costs continue to rise. Recycling has therefore become an important aspect of Pikitup’s operations to divert recyclable waste away from the landfill sites.

Beyond 2010: Innovative projects

Other projects beside Clean Up Day which are worth noting include the Clean City Summit which will take place in the last quarter of every year, the illegal dumping campaign and an eco rangers education programme targeted specifically at school children. These elements are designed to ensure the cleanliness of the City in the long term through education and law enforcement. For us to effectively educate residents of Johannesburg, we need to ensure that our message is simple, consistent and easy to understand. In addition there are projects aimed at taking waste management into the future through recycling for example.
Separation at source is one of the most notable recycling initiatives that Pikitup plans to embark on in the near future. A pilot project that has been implemented in over 56000 households in the suburbs serviced by the Waterval depot is expected to yield valuable data that will inform Pikitup on how separation at source will be rolled out throughout the City. Through the project, residents in these suburbs were provided with two more litter receptacles for paper, glass and plastic.
Separation at Source will also feature at stadiums during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

31/05/2010