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“We have about eight years before we run out of space for landfills in the City of Johannesburg”. Shadrack Kapiwa, Pikitup’s GM for Communications & Stakeholder Management was speaking ahead of a series of Stakeholder Summits to be hosted by the organisation as of November 2011.
“Our current model of waste management is not sustainable because it significantly compromises the environment”, says Kapiwa. “We need to create a paradigm shift amongst the people of Johannesburg to help drive waste minimisation efforts”.
The aforesaid paradigm shift pertains to revaluating the waste management value chain and this involves reducing waste that is generated, reusing and recycling what is produced and, as a last resort, disposing what remains. For this to be achieved, there also needs to be an additional kick-off element and that is, getting citizens to rethink their understanding of waste generation and management.
According to Kapiwa, “These Summits are a platform for us to engage with the people of the City in order to bring these issues to light, stimulate action and increase public awareness so that we can ultimately change behaviour”.
Amongst others the Summits will highlight some of the following issues
• Promotion of garden sites as centres of excellence where discarded materials can be deposited
• The airspace depletion at the landfill sites and the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) syndrome
• The social and economic impacts of illegal dumping
• Waste minimisation
• The improtance of the involvement of stakeholders in addressing these problems
The active engagement of residents in former disadvantaged areas specifically will go a long way in understanding their challenges and concerns. The aim is for Pikitup to be better informed on the relevant interventions that need to be put in place in order to achieve the ultimate end of a more sustainable waste management system.
The summits are open to all sectors of society within the relevant communties; invitations have been issued via the ward councillors. Targeted areas include Orange Farm, Alexandra, parts of Soweto and Tshepisong.
24/11/2011 |
