​The City of Johannesburg’s waste management company, Pikitup, is spending over R12 million to renovate and upgrade its garden sites in line with its strategic objective of encouraging recycling and diverting 97% of waste away from landfill sites.

Currently, the entity is refurbishing and upgrading six of its garden sites, which include the Victory Park Garden site, situated along the Victory Road in Greenside, which falls under the Waterval Depot. The site is being renovated to include ramp access, recycling storage facilities, a new guard house and a staff kitchenette.
The refurbishment and upgrades seek to ensure that residents in the area are provided with facilities that would make it easier for them to recycle and assist the entity in its efforts to encourage residents to dispose of waste in a responsible manner.

The construction of the brick wall compartment will be used by recycling co-operatives operating on site to enable them to sort different recyclable materials accordingly. The storage compartments will also ensure that the quality of recyclable materials received is not contaminated with non-recyclable waste and this will ensure that good quality recyclable materials are extracted.

The Avalon Depot will see the Leo Garden site undergo similar renovations, which the construction of a new guard house, access ramp and storage compartments. The cost estimations of the refurbishment are around R 1.5 million. Construction at this garden site is about 95% complete.

In the Midrand area, the Cedar Road Garden site is also being renovated and a new sorting facility will be built, storage compartments and the construction of a new guard house.
In the Southdale Depot, the Mayfield Garden site is receiving similar upgrades with cost estimations of R1.7 million and this project is 88% complete.

The last two projects falling under the Central Camp Depot and the Roodepoort Depot will both undergo renovations similar to the Mayfield Garden site. Both these projects are 47% and 46% complete and their cost estimations are R2.5 million respectively.
The renovations and upgrades are also meant to assist residents to dump their waste legally, to refrain from dumping waste illegally and to encourage recycling.

The City of Johannesburg clears about 250 000 tons of illegal dumping sites annually and spends about R85.6 million a year to clean illegal dumpsites. However, the City is fast running out of landfill space and residents are encouraged to use the facilities to assist the City’s recycling efforts and to reduce the amount of money that the City spends on clearing illegally dumped waste.
Residents are further encouraged to be part of the solution and to refrain from dumping waste illegally. If residents witness illegal dumping, they are urged to report it to the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police on 082 559 3880 or on the illegal dumping hotline 082 779 1361.