February 11, 2003
By Jonews reporter
PIKITUP, the City of Johannesburg's waste management utility, will be fighting its own day-and-night battles in the next two months. Its opponent? Waste, generated by the thousands of cricket lovers descending on the Wanderers cricket stadium in Illovo to catch a live game of the Cricket World Cup (CWC). Five matches will be played in the city in February and March.
During the day, Pikitup's workers will be ensuring that the streets of the city and the stadium grounds are clean and spotless. For the night clean ups - from 11pm to 4am - Pikitup will be hiring casual labourers to clean the stadium's grounds and the surrounding streets, according to operations director Christa Venter.
Their work will be made easier with the help of a mechanical sweeper, which clears the streets of fine waste and which was used successfully during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August, she says. "The reason we are using casual workers is that Pikitup staff cannot work during the day and at night. It is too much for them."
Skips, or 5.5m garbage containers, as well as multi-waste bins have been placed at cricket grounds to encourage visitors to discard their waste appropriately. "We've been cleaning the streets and the stadiums for a while already and we think that if we clean the areas first, then people will be in a clean environment and that will make them realise that they don't need to dump litter themselves," says Venter.
About 40 jobless people will be making money from Pikitup's recycling initiatives, as they will be collecting waste at the stadium and selling it to recycling companies like Collect-a-Can, Mondi, SA Waste, the Plastic Federation, and the Reclaim Group.
You too can play your part in Pikitup's "recycling at source" initiatives by discarding your cool drink cans, cardboard and paper in rubbish bins that are demarcated for specific types of waste at the stadium. "This saves us a lot of work because the waste is put into the right container, which means it does not have to be sorted," says Venter.
Recycling also aims to take pressure off the city's landfills as dry waste, which includes plastic, cans and cardboard, will be recycled. Wet waste like food will be disposed of at landfills. Pikitup has arranged after-hours waste disposal at Goudkoppies and Robinson Deep landfills.
"Pikitup has the necessary labour and equipment in place to maintain a litter-free environment in the streets, tourist routes, and venues associated with the CWC…this is a rare opportunity for Johannesburg residents to showcase our home, and Pikitup's role is set to boost the international image of Johannesburg as a clean, hygienic and efficient tourist destination," says a spokesperson.
Normal waste collection duties across the city will continue uninterrupted.
