As with any make-over, it all starts with clearing out the waste. In this case, the City has implemented a plan to provide clean and hygienic environments to not only its residents but also its visitors. The city's waste management entity, Pikitup, has a vital role and its participation at WasteCon 2012 is an opportunity to showcase their efforts.
The conference is currently underway in East London's International Convention Centre and runs over 3 days. The event brings together thousands of industry professionals from around the country for training, technical sessions and exhibits. The theme is 'Wrestling with Waste' and focusses on topics such as employment, environment and engineering.
Piktup’s Executive for Legal Compliance Environment & Safety, Zandile Mpungose, will be speaking on Waste Minimisation and Recycling Strategy for the City of Joburg with Emphasis on Separation of Recyclable Waste at Source. “We have recently rolled out our Trash to Treasure project to the Zondi, Soweto area – the project not only encourages residents to recycle their household refuse, which is ordinarily tossed away, but it also promotes job creation through the exchange of money for recyclable waste. This ties in perfectly to Zandile’s topic at WasteCon this year,” said Pikitup Managing Director Amanda Nair.
Pikitup’s idea is to get residents to start turning trash (waste) into treasure (resource), thereby evoking a change in mindset where value can still be extracted from what was previously viewed as useless.
Johannesburg is actually one of the first cities in South Africa to embark on such a large recycling initiative and in her presentation Mpungose will go into more detail on the strategy as well as the principles behind it. She will also be delving into operations of the project, touching on the business model, project structure and the marketing and communication driving the project.
