Pretoria - The City of Johannesburg will use the two-day Joburg Waste Summit as a platform to present its new waste management strategy.
Together with the City of Joburg, Pikitup will be hosting the Joburg Waste Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre from today.
Delegates will explore all opportunities that flow from the implementation plan, with a view to soliciting wider support for the waste management fraternity and all who strive to make Johannesburg a clean world-class African city.
City’s mayor, Mpho Tau said: “Johannesburg has long been recognised as the economic hub of Africa.
“It is imperative that we take all necessary measures to ensure the city’s sustainable development and environmental integrity through superior waste management. That is what this summit is all about.”
Pikitup Managing Director, Amanda Nair, said over 1.3 million tonnes of waste is disposed at Johannesburg’s landfills every year.
“At Pikitup, we manage 80 percent of Johannesburg’s waste, to put it into perspective that is 1.3 million tonnes of waste every year.
“This summit is the perfect opportunity to explore new ways of waste disposal, take the pressure off our landfill sites, and join the rest of the world through global best practice, ensuring the City of Joburg’s future is both green and clean,” she said.
According to Nair, by 2020 the landfills will be filled to capacity, a reality that has prompted Pikitup to change its thinking around waste disposal with a new emphasis placed on the diversion of recyclable waste away from landfills through alternative waste treatment technologies.
In putting sustainability at the centre of its strategy, Pikitup has adopted a new mantra: “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, Rethink, Renew and Regenerate”.
Today, delegates at the Waste Summit will focus on recycling. Issues to be tackled will be the building of a recycling economy, diverting waste away from landfills, the value of waste, conserving the environment and Pikitup’s Separation at Source initiative.
On the last day, delegates will look at alternative waste technology. Nair said delegates will present and discuss more sustainable waste management solutions, waste technology, and the conversion of waste into energy, effective waste disposal and global best practices.-SAnews.gov.za
