Streets in an appalling state

Ms Eleanor de Klerk, a Kensington resident, said she walks to work and the amount of rubbish lining the streets is shocking. “People do not care and the municipality, even more so. They do not bother sweeping and cleaning sidewalks and streets any more. I walk to work and see several dead rats, especially in Fawcus Street, from 1st Street, because of rubbish dumps. “There are dumps at the corner of King and St Amant streets. The whole of St Amant Street between King and Bartle streets has still not been cleaned. Rubbish is just piling up. Highland Road, between Katoomba and Good Hope streets has become disgusting with refuse dumps on either side. It is an absolute disgrace,” she said. Ms De Klerk said the refuse at the corner of King and Bartle streets was first reported on May 23. To date, nothing has been done about it.

Residents have been complaining about dumps across the Joburg East area for several months.

Mr Mike Spadino, chairperson of the Malvern United Community Forum, said the suburb was in a mess because street sweeping was not taking place. He and other residents said that street sweepers sleep on the job. All concerns about illegal dumping and street sweepers sleeping on the job were forwarded to Pikitup. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received on the enquiries. Pikitup was allocated a R1,6-billion operating budget recently to enable it to continue the collection of refuse, street and inner city cleaning, separation at source, cleaning of informal settlements and addressing illegal dumping. CoJ also recently announced that it is trying to find alternative methods to manage and treat waste.
This was stated by the executive mayor, Clr Mpho Parks Tau, during the Joburg Waste Summit held in Sandton.
The summit was held to seek possible solutions to waste management challenges in the city.
Johannesburg produces more than 1,8 million tonnes of waste a year, most of which is a result of illegal dumping.
Clr Tau said that although the city is making headway towards finding alternative methods to waste management and treatment, there are still a number of challenges that need to be addressed.
He said it is important to use waste as a resource to create jobs, improve social cohesion, address spatial inequalities and benefit the environment. “The environment and infrastructure services department (EISD) will work towards developing a different relationship with the community, one which will seek solutions by building and engaging in mutually beneficial partnerships. “Interventions the city and the EISD are implementing are able to achieve numerous sustainable environmental and socio-economic objectives,” he said. Interventions include reducing greenhouse gases. Pikitup managing director, Ms Amanda Nair, said aside from what the company picks up, there is a severe lack of ownership of the environment resulting in littering and illegal dumping of waste in open spaces. “Our goal is to create an environment where people can live and play, and where business can flourish in a beautiful and clean city. In order to make this dream a reality, Pikitup has developed an integrated waste management plan for CoJ in addressing long-term issues related to sustainable waste services. “By educating the communities on sustainable waste management practices, and diverting more waste away from landfills through recycling and alternative waste technology, we can create a clean Johannesburg,” she said. “By changing our attitudes towards waste and creating a ‘waste value chain’, we will see a sharp spike in the percentage of waste currently being recycled, less of a burden on already overfull landfill sites and the improvement of our environment,” said Clr Tau. He added that through the ideas and dialogue at the summit, the city will hopefully find ways to challenges such as the lack of space in landfill sites and treatment of waste in a manner that will protect groundwater systems.