Pikitup aims to cut watse

Various ways are being explored for sustainable waste management, from recycling to legal dumping, while recognising that there will always be a need for disposal.
THE 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) began in Durban yesterday, but Pikitup came to the party early. It hosted a series of summits through November in the build-up to the international climate change gathering, as well as made a presentation at EnviroCon.

Joburg recently launched a landfill to gasJoburg recently launched a Landfill Gas to Energy projectThe summits, which started at the beginning of November, promoted sustainable waste management. They were open to all sectors of society, and were held in a variety of places, including Orange Farm, Alexandra, Soweto and Tshepisong.

Shadrack Kapiwa, Pikitup’s general manager for communications and stakeholder management, explains the need for managing waste in a more sustainable manner: “We have about eight years before we run out of space for landfills in the city of Johannesburg.”

Issues addressed at the summits included the promotion of garden sites as centres of excellence where discarded materials could be deposited, airspace depletion at landfill sites, social and economic impacts of illegal dumping, waste minimisation, and the importance of stakeholder involvement in addressing these problems.

“Our current model of waste management is not sustainable because it significantly compromises the environment,” he says. “We need to create a paradigm shift amongst the people of Johannesburg to help drive waste minimisation efforts.”

The waste management value chain needs to be re-evaluated, which involves reducing the amount of waste 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 drive to encourage people to rethink their understanding of waste generation and management.

"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."

Involving residents in previously disadvantaged areas, specifically, would go a long way in understanding their challenges and concerns. Pikitup wanted to learn more about what was needed to achieve the ultimate end of a more sustainable waste management system.

Low-carbon economy
Recycling green wastePikitups is reducing waste to landfills by recycling green wasteApart from the summits, Pikitup, together with the City, is committed to moving to a low-carbon economy. The executive for legal environment, compliance and safety, Zandile Mpungose, also gave a presentation at EnviroCon 2011 on waste minimisation. EnviroCon took place on 18 November in Hartbeespoort.

"Landfill space is fast depleting and is impacting the environment negatively at an alarming pace, mostly because of the rapid population growth in the city,” said Mpungose, “and that, in turn, links directly to excessive waste production.”

Joburg’s population was growing at a rate of 9 percent annually. “We simply do not have the space to accommodate the continuously increasing levels of waste being generated as more people move into the city.”

More than a space issue, the environment cannot withstand the sustained impact. In response, Pikitup needs to find a sustainable way of reducing the levels of waste generated. What is generated also needs to be managed.

Looking at what constitutes waste, how it is generated and ultimately managed, Pikitup’s plan is to drastically cut down on waste produced, and so reduce what needs to be disposed of down the line.

She explained: “We’re looking at reducing the waste that is produced by residents, businesses and individuals, so that we have less to dispose of at landfills."

The knock-on benefits will be reducing the negative effect on the environment. The ultimate objective is to change Pikitup’s current value chain from "collect, transport and dispose", to “rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle”.

“Even though we encourage people to reduce waste creation, we must accept that realistically there will always be some level of waste generated," said Mpungose. “It is our job at Pikitup to make sure that refuse is collected, diverted and recycled where possible, and the residual is ultimately being disposed."

Pikitup's Clean City CampaignPikitup's Clean City Campaign involves cleaning up illegal dumping areasIt is critical to change the public’s mind-set and attitude towards the creation and management of waste. “We will bolster our education and awareness drive so that Joburg citizens can understand what we’re trying to achieve. We can’t achieve much without their support and active participation,” she added.

Recycle
Pikitup is looking to divert at least 33 percent of waste from landfills through a combination of:

Product stewardship – or take-back – programmes, where manufacturers take back their own packaging and other recyclable products;
The development of facilities that promote reuse, recycling and composting – these initiatives will, in turn, increase Joburg residents’ participation in recycling;
Supporting the roll out of infrastructure for waste diversion, such as materials recovery facilities, composting plants, waste transfer stations and builders' rubble plants; and,
Finally, through extensive city-wide education and awareness outreach programmes.
Pikitup has already embarked on a number of initiatives which contribute towards the City’s goal of emitting less carbon emissions.

“We presently run the Clean City Campaign, the highlight of which is the annual Clean-up Day. It also incorporates the Illegal Dumping Programme, which is about combatting the problem of illicitly discarding waste in any open space around the city,” said Mpungose.

"In 2012, we will expand the Separation at Source initiative to include more suburbs, which will feature an education drive to get more households to separate their refuse from home to help minimise what ends up at the landfill site."

Separation at Source
Separation at Source was introduced in 2009, and it is going well. To begin, Pikitup identified the Waterval area as a pilot site for the project. It has been a success, and is still running.

Residents are encouraged to seperate waste at sourceResidents are encouraged to separate waste at sourceIt is hoped the project will lead to the waste hierarchy being fully adopted by the City and its community, and that it will result in less waste going to landfills as people separate their own recyclable waste.

It must comply with the National Environment Management Waste Act and help to reduce the demand for waste collection and disposal services.

The project entailed door-to-door education about recycling, which included distributing information pamphlets, placing stickers on Pikitup's 240-litre wheelie bins, taking part in radio talk shows and exhibitions at shopping centres and malls, and visiting schools and churches.

On average, each month 204 tons of recyclable waste has been diverted away from landfills.

According to Pikitup’s communications manager, Pansy Jali-Oyedele, the participation rate gradually increased from 4 318 households in November 2009 to 6 946 households in December 2010.

Moving forward, Pikitup would like to promote the establishment of bottle banks at strategic sites, including at garden sites, to cut transport costs. It would also like to extend the three receptacle system used in the pilot project.

In this system, the 240-litre wheelie bin is used by households for non-recyclable waste; they are given a clear plastic bag for dry recyclables such as plastics, cans and glass; and a separate orange Mondi Ronnie bag for paper.

Legal dumping
Earlier this year, Pikitup also announced that building rubble could be dumped at landfills.

Building contractors are able to dump their building rubble at the Marie Louise Landfill on Dobsonville Road in Roodepoort and the Robinson Deep Landfill on Turffontein Road in Turffontein, at no charge.

To be accepted, the rubble must be clean and must consist of materials that are less than the standard brick size, while the soil must have a maximum particle size of 20mm. Jali-Oyedele says that as part of its recycling strategy, Pikitup’s disposal management division usually re-uses the building rubble as cover material at landfill sites.

“The only requirement for this free service is that construction companies and contractors must open an account with Pikitup,” she adds. ”This will enable them to dispose of clean and uncontaminated rubble at the two landfill sites.”

This free service was introduced in a bid to combat illegal dumping since rubble constitutes a significant amount of illegally dumped waste. This service is also open to the public if they open an account with Pikitup.

For more information on the disposal of building rubble at the sites, contact Joburg Connect on 011 375 5555 or send an email to joburgconnect@joburg.za.