Pikitup really needs to pick it up

Johannesburg is a mess. With litter scattered across just about every street, it is no wonder that vermin run amok and children get sick from the diseases they spread. From parks to parking lots, highways to pavements, and from the greenest, leafiest suburbs to the poorest of informal settlements, it is clear that Pikitup, the city’s waste management entity, is struggling to meet the needs of this growing community.

Read more: Pikitup fined R5m over Fairland dump

Wayne Dawson, from Jozi My Jozi, a civic organisation determined to return the inner city to a functioning and clean space, says Pikitup cannot cope on its own with the filth that the city is drowning under.

“Pikitup is not managing, as it grapples with a problem that is much larger than might be immediately obvious. Years of dirt and rubbish that has been thrown on railway tracks, between buildings, and so on is a mammoth task to clear. We are busy mapping out areas to tackle and hope to make a difference.”

As is so often the case in this series, it is civil society’s inclusion in tackling problems that is needed if a city-led and owned project is to be successful.

Ward 98 councillor Beverly Jacobs says: “Pikitup currently battles with challenges such as work stoppages due to delayed payments of contractors, reoccurring illegal dumping and littering, insufficient by-law enforcement, depletion of available landfill airspaces, high increase in population, and high generation of waste.”

While healthcare and community safety are of paramount importance, the broken window theory tells us that once the ‘little things’ go wrong in a community, the bigger issues are not far behind. Johannesburg certainly has no shortage of bigger issues, as discussed in depth during this series, and waste management is no different. What, to some, is simply litter on the ground, shows a societal degradation far worse than meets the eye.

Pikitup is the city entity responsible for waste management – which includes picking up litter, emptying household municipal bins, emptying street side bins, and the management of various dumping sites across the city. Their website states they are responsible for: ‘Preserving an attractive and hygienic environment for all residents, and visitors alike’.

The entity employs 4 500 people and uses more than 200 trucks to provide refuse collection services to the city’s residents and businesses. They service an area of 1 625km² and collect about 6 000 tonnes of waste every day. It is a mammoth job, the gravity of which cannot be overstated.

So, aside from preaching the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra, what is Pikitup doing to effectively manage the waste situation in Johannesburg, and what could it be doing differently?

Dumping sites and the business of illegal dumping

Johannesburg has several sites where residents can dispose of waste, but some worry that there are not enough. The sites are often full, and residents are sent from pillar to post to get rid of waste. This is frustrating for residents but also fuels the illegal dumping trade.

The Fairland dump remains closed, which has unsurprisingly led to heightened illegal dumping acts.

In Fairland, Pikitup did not conduct an environmental risk assessment of the site and surrounding areas when it decided to expand from a garden refuse-only site to also accepting other waste. They were slapped with a large fine, which they are fighting, hence the site being closed.

“Pikitup has filed an appeal with the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) to reconsider the fine imposed on the organisation,” says Pikitup spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi.

“The most recent update was received on October 25 which stated the appeal, along with all other similar applications, has been forwarded to the MEC for determination.”

The areas in and around Kya Sands are all too familiar with the destruction and pollution unmanaged and uncontrolled illegal dumping areas can cause. Illegal dumps in this area are serviced by up to 200 independent rubbish trucks a day at times – after which the rubbish is burnt causing a toxic and overwhelming smog that engulfs the area.

Keith Elliott, from the Kya Sand Burning Wasteland Community Forum Non-Profit Company, said recently that they had: “Won our first legal battle when we secured a court order compelling the City of Johannesburg to conduct comprehensive air quality testing at its own cost.”

Mkhwanazi was asked to comment on this. “The Kya Sands issue is a legal matter which is handled by the city, and Pikitup and other entities are sited as respondents in the matter. The issue is sub-judice. The decommissioned area is used by illegal dumpers – a criminal activity that is beyond Pikitup’s mandate.”

The contract worker’s conundrum

Another bone of contention that frustrates the entity is the issue of contract workers.

Also read: Decision looming on Fairland Pikitup dump site expansion

Mkhwanazi says: “Some short-term contract workers are recruited through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). This government initiative aims to create work opportunities and provide income support to poor and unemployed individuals, primarily through labour-intensive public service delivery projects and other related activities.”

Many contract workers go on strike out of desperation, trying to achieve full-time employment.

Strike action by contract workers often causes chaos in the areas where the protests occur, and are the most visible of Pikitup’s struggles to residents. Despite the ‘no work, no pay’ principle being enforced during such times, residents have been known to face weeks of refuse build-up as collections are halted while resolutions are sought.

Contract employees are needed, for example, when full-time staff are on leave during the December holidays to ensure waste collection carries on during this period.

Mkhwanazi says: “As a state entity, Pikitup is also mandated to align with national government employment policies.” He did not expand on strike action, nor what plans Pikitup has in order to prevent this going forward.

How reclaimers are helping Pikitup

Waste reclaimers play a crucial role in the city’s waste minimisation programme by diverting waste from landfill sites. Their efforts ensure that recyclable materials are collected and properly processed, preventing them from ending up at Pikitup’s landfill sites.

However, some people believe that waste reclaimers are spying on houses, looking for ways to commit crimes rather than sorting and collecting recyclable materials.

Professor Melanie Samson, associate professor in sociology at the University of Johannesburg, has previously said to Caxton Local Media: “Reclaimers have historically been treated as an inconvenience within waste management. However, over the past two decades, perspectives have begun to shift from classifying reclaimers as poor, marginal individuals eking out a meagre living by rummaging through other people’s trash, to essential, frontline workers in the recycling economy, particularly within the global south.”

Illegal dumping and poor waste management from the source contribute to the financial strain on the required resources to manage waste.

Anthony Selepe, from Pikitup, has previously said: “Reclaimers play a critical role in limiting waste that would ordinarily go to a landfill. Frustrations residents and motorists have with them does not lessen their role in working with us in waste management in the city.”

The African Reclaimers Organisation said: “Their work saves municipalities R780m in landfill space alone, and that saving does not include the savings in waste removal trucking and fuel.”

Some statistics about waste reclaimers and how they help our city:

• According to Samson, there are approximately 8 000 reclaimers in the city.
• Without them, South Africa’s recycling economy would not exist, and Johannesburg’s landfills would have closed long ago.
• The four legal landfills will be full in less than three years.
• Urban Surfers, a NPO focused on informal recycling solutions, said that each informal reclaimer diverts up to 24 tonnes of recyclable waste a year from our country’s landfills.
• In South Africa, only around 10% of urban households separate their waste, with most recyclable items being thrown away (Stats, 2018).
• According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, reclaimers collect 80–90% of all used packaging and paper that is recycled, and waste reclaimers save South African municipalities up to R748m a year in landfill space.

It seems like a simple enough job – go out, clean up, and move on. But the state of the city shows that this is not the case.
Once again, it seems that this city entity is deeply dependent on the assistance of civil society to ensure that they function at an acceptable level.

“Pikitup alone cannot cope, but we at Jozi my Jozi are determined to partner with them and turn the tide on filth,” says Dawson, and with the help of waste reclaimers, and hopefully more households separating their trash into recyclable materials, the city can turn the tide on filth.

“Johannesburg residents certainly do not deserve to live in filth, and Pikitup owes it to those residents to clean up their act as a matter of urgency,” says Julia Fish, from JoburgCAN, an Outa initiative.

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