August 26, 2002
By Tendai Dhliwayo
A PROJECT meant to change people's attitude towards waste is being piloted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Sky-blue "recycling stations" are being placed at all major summit venues and art is going up on the M1 North and South for the entire period of the conference. The message "Recycle Your Attitude" will appear on all the artworks in African, South African or international languages to get the message across.
The project is being spearheaded by the provincial Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs (Dacel), together with the Johannesburg World Summit Company (Jowsco) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to ensure that there is a decrease in the amount of waste generated during the summit period.
Dacel commissioned 10 artists working under the umbrella of the Joubert Park Public Art Project to create works for the M1 display.
Smokestacks mean power - and pollution, in this billboard by the Joubert Park Public Art Project, placed along the M1
"We have a wonderful group of people to raise public awareness on waste management. We want to increase public awareness on waste recycling," says Dr Trish Hanekom, head of department in Dacel.
She says the intention is to see the introduction of waste recycling as part and parcel of waste management, to get people to change their behaviour and "to have them recycle their attitude".
Different types of waste stations will be used in all the summit centres, but all will provide for the separation of recyclable and non-recyclable waste to make sorting easier.
The stations will have a six-bin set with four bins for recyclable material (sky-blue) and two bins for non-recyclable waste (charcoal). According to Hanekom, the colour coding is used so people know where to put different forms of waste.
For disposal of hazardous material, facilities will be included in the wheelie bins and at all indoor waste area. Media centres at Nasrec and Ubuntu will each have a 240-litre hazardous-material bin.
The stations will include an outdoor waste station with three sets of two 240-litre wheelie bin sets. These will be in open areas everywhere.
There will be an indoor/ exhibition waste station, the set of six 60-litre bins to be placed in a self-supporting frame. This will be used in exhibition areas where space is limited.
A tsunami of rubbish threatens to engulf all of us in this billboard on the M1, which carries a message in Sotho imploring viewers to 'Change Your Attitude'
The last is the mobile waste station composed of a set of six 60-litre bins to be hosted on a trolley. This will be used around transport hubs and other functions in Newtown.
The project will be implemented in areas with a large concentration of people like Nasrec, Ubuntu village, Newtown and the summit transport hub.
This initiative will now be used during major events in the city and is the introduction of a permanent campaign to raise awareness and educate people about managing waste.
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