The Executive Mayor has called on Joburg communities to make recycling a part of their lives, in an attempt to preserve the earth from pollution and associated environmental risks.
Cllr Geoff Makhubo was speaking on the side-lines of National Recycling Week, observed annually between Monday, 14 and Saturday, 19 September.
More than 120 000 volunteers participate in annual clean-up campaigns, however, the number of stakeholders has dwindled due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Mayor says Joburg’s recycling efforts are in much-need of an injection of energy and creativity to ensure minimal waste ends up at landfill sites.
“I would like to encourage all residents of Johannesburg to rethink, reduce, reuse and repair our waste,” says Cllr Makhubo.
The City recently awarded six co-operatives with certificates for their recycling efforts at the Linbro Park landfill site, helping preserve and protect the environment. Recycling involves processing things that have already been used, such as bottles or sheets of paper into material that can be used again. Last year, such initiatives diverted over 200 000 tons of waste from the City’s landfill sites, saving over R40-million rands of disposal cost.
“We need to inculcate a culture of recycling a large percentage (97%) of domestic waste in our communities to ensure we keep our city clean and our waste away from slowly declining landfill space,” says Cllr Makhubo.
The MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Mpho Moerane says recycling is a growing industry in the country and has the potential to reduce high levels of unemployment.
“Recycling reduces the amount of waste to landfills, conserves natural resources, increases economic security and prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials,” says Cllr Moerane.
Pikitup, the City’s waste management entity has introduced the separation at source programme to instil a culture of recycling among residents of Johannesburg. The initiative encourages homeowners to separate recyclable materials from source.
Cllr Moerane warns that despite waste diversion rates, the City still faces the grim possibility of running out of landfill sites in the next four and a half years.
“This prospect calls on all residents to improve and intensify recycling initiatives to preserve the lifespan of our landfill sites and also protect our environment,” he says.
