21/10/2026
We thank Petco for donating 500 refuse bags, received on 19 October 2026, to support our efforts to reduce waste and increase recycling. Our campaigns are self-funded, and the bags will help us serve our communities in improving the quality of air that surrounds them. Breathe Better Together – Earth Day School Awareness & Tree Planting Campaign Seriti Institute - NPC. We are working together with 33 other community-based organisations and academic institutions like University of Johannesburg and UJ Engineering and the Built Environment, UJ PEETS, and EISD City of Joburg to capacitate and educate ourselves on how to bring the message across that the current poor quality of air negatively impacts our health.
Did you know that the poor air quality we breathe causes serious diseases like high blood pressure and can lead to a stroke? It is in the interest of our health and that of the vulnerable in our communities to plant more trees and become involved, learning more about the small actions we can take to reduce waste burning or recycling so that recyclable materials do not end up in the landfill. In Johannesburg alone, our landfills are reaching capacity very soon. It was estimated that we had 5 years left before our landfills reached capacity, according to an article from WITS Vuvuzela published on 20 December 2023. That was 3 years ago, meaning if our behaviour doesn't improve, we have 2 years left before our major landfills close. According to the same article, it takes 5 years to bring a landfill into operation and 2 years to get it approved.
This is an excerpt from that article, https://witsvuvuzela.com/2023/12/20/joburgs-landfills-almost-at-capacity/, which is concerning, to say the least.
The manner in which our waste is handled from our homes and businesses is appalling, and more education and awareness drives are needed in order to stem the tide of recyclable waste reaching our landfills. The law states that a landfill should be 500 kilometres away from residents. In Eldorado Park, the Goudkoppies landfill is lined with an informal settlement at the foot of the landfill, called Lapland, making it easier for waste pickers to access and earn an income.
"Waste management entity Pikitup, a subsidiary of the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), serves as the primary waste management service provider within the CoJ. Its core responsibilities encompass the collection and disposal of household waste, carried out through the operation of four distinct landfills across Johannesburg. On a weekly basis, Pikitup delivers waste management services to 1.4 million formal households and 260 informal settlements in Johannesburg.
Pikitup has two primary objectives. The first objective is to achieve "zero waste to landfills by 2022", aligning with the global best practice standard, which stipulates that only 10% of the waste stream should be disposed of in landfills.
The second key objective of Pikitup is to promote recycling. Recycling is essential in the reduction of the amount of waste sent to landfills and extracting maximum value from the waste stream.
Unfortunately, Pikitup has not been able to meet its own objectives in the reduction of waste sent to the landfills. Currently, only 13% of the waste in Johannesburg undergoes recycling, indicating that the combined efforts of all landfills result in recycling less waste than they generate."
Conclusion:
If only 13% of waste undergoes recycling, that means 87% of our waste does not undergo recycling and literally ends up in the landfill. Plastic, being the worst form of pollution, is therefore buried in our soil and is found littered across our communities. It takes an average of 500 years to decompose.
Plastic does not simply disappear. It can remain in our environment for hundreds of years, gradually breaking into microplastics that pollute our soil and water. The plastic dropped today could still affect communities many generations from now.
Plastic should therefore be collected, separated and recycled or responsibly processed, not burnt. Burning plastic can create additional air-pollution risks, which connects directly with the waste-burning problem.
Plastic waste may take about 20 to 500 years to break down, depending on the product and environmental conditions. Even then, it may remain as tiny plastic particles.
Other research estimates that plastic pollution can persist for 100 to 1,000 years or longer under certain conditions.
Plastic lying in direct sunlight may become brittle and fragment faster, while plastic buried in soil or in a landfill, where there is less sunlight and oxygen, may persist much longer.
Become involved in the reduction of waste to Breathe Better Together by visiting the website dedicated to the movement to improve air quality in the City of Johannesburg. I have attached an image of how much waste is generated in South Africa.
BECOME INVOLVED AND VISIT: https://breathebettertogether.co.za/
