A Soweto community has chosen to clean up and green their area and a Lonehill community has decided to start a recycling programme. Although these projects encounter some challenges, they are slowly but surely brightening formerly unattractive neighbourhoods.
Mandla Mentoor of Soweto Mountain Rainbow (Somoho) has been doing clean-up work in Soweto since 1990 and teaching communities the importance of keeping their environment tidy.
Two of the organisation’s projects, Amandla waste creation and Children Love Nature, have prompted young and old to use their creativity while getting involved in environmental issues.
Mentoor believes that when communities understand what they stand to gain by planting trees and looking after the environment, they are keen to get involved.
“We are distributing trees and working towards greening Soweto,” he says.
Working with Food and Trees for Africa, he and enthusiastic volunteers aim to plant 300 000 trees between now and the World Cup.
“About 200 000 trees are going to be in household yards, while 100 000 will be planted in streets and parks,” says Mentoor.
In Mapetla, a community in Soweto of 120 000 residents, about 350 trees have been planted since last November.
“The community loves the programme,” says Mentoor, adding that residents have further identified three open spaces where they hope to plant more trees. He comments that this is happening in five other communities.
“We zoom into a community, sit down with them, study the challenges the community’s facing with their environment, such as illegal dumps, broken sewers, leaking water drains,” says Mentoor. “We ask which resources the community has and what the challenges and opportunities are.”
After that they start with the clean-up campaign.
Dan Padi, a councillor for Mapetla, is excited about the changes happening in his community. He says the campaign has ensured that Mapetla is now 80% clean.
“We decided, let us show people we do care with cleanliness and that where they are dumping is not right,” says Padi.
This move was brought on by Padi and Somoho members living in Mapetla. A committee was created to educate and inform the community about a clean-up campaign that would rid the area of illegal dumping. A call to Pikitup was made so they could collect the gathered refuse.
This initiative resulted in households having bins from which Pikitup collects the waste once a week. The community was also informed of a garden site where they could take refuse.
“Once you engage your community in the spirit of ubuntu, they see you as a leader. They become interested and assist as well,” says Padi.
Service delivery has improved — the newly re-energised community also ensures that things that are not working, such as street lights and burst pipes, are fixed by engaging with the city council, says Padi.
They are concerned that some people still dump their refuse in illegal spots. But Padi is encouraged by the fact that the community has asked him whether certain areas can be turned into mini parks.
Just across town, in a more affluent neighbourhood, residents are also cleaning up their neighbourhood. A Lonehill recycling project is slowly changing perceptions that most South Africans are not interested in recycling.
The Lonehill Residents’ Association contacted Pikitup to start a recycling programme in their suburb. This is a pilot project done in partnership with Mama She Waste Recyclers. Residents receive blue bags for identified recyclable materials such as plastic, glass, polystyrene and cans.
This project, aimed at diminishing the amount of refuse ending up in the city’s landfill sites, was started in November. As it is only three months old and only 10% of residents participate, Pikitup special projects manager Christa Venter believes the project has immense room to grow.
She says problems occurred in the beginning when residents wanted to know what was is in it for them and whether their rates would be reduced. Residents also mixed green waste with recyclable material.
There were instances where the recycling company was not welcome in town house complexes, says Venter. Some people also put the blue bags in their black wheelie bins because of scavenging dogs and Mama She Waste Recyclers missed the bags.
The biggest issue with residents, says Venter, is getting them to separate their waste at the source.
“We want more people to participate before moving on,” she says.
Next on the recycling map will be Fourways, Northcliff, Bez Valley and other areas, which have asked Pikitup to collect recyclable waste.
“The challenge with community projects is sustainability,” says Zini Mokhine of Earth Life Zero waste campaign. If more households recycle, says Mokhine, they will be cutting disposable cost to landfill sites and reducing costs and liabilities for future generations.
Contrary to popular belief, the projects in Mapetla and Lonehill show that communities are eager to tackle issues regarding the environment.