The City of Cape Town has been awarded the PET Plastics Recycling Company’s (PETCO) ‘Recycling Municipality of the Year’ award in recognition of its ongoing efforts to minimise waste.
PETCO aims to minimise the environmental impact of post-consumer Polyethylene Terephthalate plastic (PET).
“As one of the larger metropolitan municipalities, Cape Town was nominated for this award for its leading approach to integrated waste management. Our goal is to not only provide basic services, but to minimise the effects of waste on the environment, while augmenting the associated economic activities,” says the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg.
Some of the achievements that served to motivate the award include:
- Cape Town being the first municipality to implement kerb-side collection. The City now has six split-bag pilot recycling programmes and two materials recovery facilities
- running 25 public waste drop-off sites
- implementing the Integrated Waste Exchange
- the work of the Solid Waste By-law Enforcement Unit
- the active recyclers database
- commissioning a study on full cost accounting for the city’s landfill sites
- active and successful awareness campaigns including the Waste Wise, Think Twice and Smart Living programmes
As part of our commitment to being a caring and well-run city, the City’s Solid Waste Management Department, in September supported the non-governmental organisation Beyond Education in opening a recycling swop-shop at the Inkwenkwezi High School in Dunoon.
The swop-shop, sponsored by the Airports Company of South Africa, provides a facility where the Dunoon community can exchange quantities of recyclable materials for goods such as food, toiletries, shoes, books, toys, stationery and second-hand clothes.
The City supports the initiative by providing the communities with waste education through plays and talks, and supplying waste-wise stationery packs to the swop-shops which include a ruler, notepad, lanyard and bag.
“Additionally, Inkwenkwezi High School learners who work in the shop will be taken on a tour of the Athlone Refuse Transfer Station to gain a more in-depth understanding of the waste stream,” says Councillor Sonnenberg.
This kind of initiative was previously implemented at Wesbank No.1 Primary School, which now operates a successful swop-shop. The shops do not involve the exchange of money, however, tokens are given, which are redeemable for goods.
At Wesbank No.1 Primary School, recyclable goods that have been traded include glass, cardboard, newspapers, tins and plastic. On average, they collect 1 300kg of recyclable goods every two weeks. Between March and August this year, 9 723kg of recyclables were traded by 3 617 participants, including school learners and adults from the community.
The Dunoon initiative has seen a strong start, with 28 sugar bags collected on the first trading day, in which the recyclables are packed before being sent to be weighed. Money from the sale of the recyclables goes directly to restocking the Dunoon shop.
Today, 20 September 2013, the City’s Solid Waste Management Department is participating National Recycling Day festivities at Cape Town Station Prasa court area.
There are exhibition stands and a stage where hourly performances will communicate the message of good, sustainable waste management.
