September 18, 2003
By Bontle Moeng
THE first garden site, where residents can deposit garden refuse, was launched in Protea North, Soweto on Wednesday.
Waste management was a major undertaking that "if not taken care of undermines the economy and growth of the city", Executive Mayor Amos Masondo said at the official launch of the garden site.
"Major cities in the world have a problem dealing with waste," Masondo said, adding that if waste was not correctly managed it could make a city an unpleasant place in which to live. "It is important to keep the areas we live in intact, if we don't do that, we'll be in trouble."
The Protea North garden site, established by Johannesburg's waste management company Pikitup, is a fenced off area where residents can leave garden refuse and building rubble and, in future, recyclable materials. The dumping will be supervised, to ensure that only garden refuse is deposited.
Work began on the site in February, after environmental studies identified Protea North as one of the areas most in need of such a site.
"The quality of life is bound by the nature of our environment," said Masondo.
Pikitup has provided wheeled 240-litre bins to residences in Soweto for the collection of household waste. Many of these were used for other purposes, such as laundry baskets or to carry alcohol. "These bins should be used for their main purpose - collecting waste," said Masondo.
Councillor Brian Hlongwa, the mayoral committee member responsible for municipal services, said illegal dumping often occurred when residents had to travel too far to a landfill site to dump their waste. "This site will play a major role in assisting the community and alleviate the problem of waste," he said.
"The main drive is to enforce the Bill of Rights in which people have a right to an environment that is not detrimental to their health. It is my wish that the people of this community will set the trend and not dump anywhere," Hlongwa said.
In the past, Soweto had no formal system of waste collection and litter was left to accumulate in the streets or on vacant land adjacent to living areas. This accumulated waste attracted vermin and lead to the spread of disease.
With the launch of the Protea North garden site, waste can now be dumped in skips, which will then be taken to the nearest landfill site or Pikitup's composting plant in Roodepoort, according to a statement by the waste management utility.
Pikitup, in the statement, expressed the hope that the new Protea North garden site would deter residents from dumping refuse in public open areas or from burning waste.
"At a later stage, the Protea North site will be extended to incorporate a buy-back centre for recyclable domestic goods such as glass bottles, plastics and paper," Pikitup said. "This will enable the public to sell their domestic recyclables to a collecting agent on the site, who in turn will resell this material to major recycling companies."
By recycling materials, the waste stream that would otherwise be sent to landfill sites would be reduced and the costs of collection could be recovered, the waste management company said.
There are currently 48 garden sites around the city and on average almost six tonnes of garden refuse is dumped each week, some 20 percent of the total waste collected by Pikitup.
Following the environmental impact study, Pikitup identified a further three areas in Soweto in need of garden sites: Pimville, Orlando East and Mapetla.
Launch of Pikitup's garden site in Soweto
"A total amount of R3-million has been set aside for the development and maintenance of these four sites," said Hlongwa.
Pikitup is situated at the corner of Bertha and Juta streets, Braamfontein. For more information call 011 712 5200. The Pikitup help desk can be contacted on 011 470 3680.
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