Pretoria – About 1 000 young people are expected to benefit from the Youth Jobs in Waste Programme, which aims to address the backlog in solid waste service delivery in all municipalities in the country.
Water and Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa has launched the Programme following a study undertaken by the department in 2007, which assessed the status of waste services delivery, as well as capacity at local government level.
The study presented an account of the backlog with regards to solid waste service delivery in all municipalities in the country. The department developed this initiative in order to address the backlog and create capacity within municipalities in a bid to lessen the burden with regards to the provision of waste services.
The programme launch, which formed part of the department’s Youth Month celebrations was also developed in recognition that the waste sector is now, more than ever, ready for major investment in both infrastructure development as well as capacity building programmes to create decent jobs and fuel the green economy.
Launching the programme on Monday at Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State, Molewa pointed out that the waste sector has been identified as one of the critical sectors with the potential to contribute substantially to the generation of jobs within the green economy.
“It is in this light that the department is increasingly expanding its programmes in job creation and enterprise development programmes in this sector. It is important that the state improves its capacity to deliver waste services. This is not only to meet service delivery needs, but also to provide dignity and quality of life to our people,” Molewa said.
An estimated 1 000 job opportunities will be created by placing young people in municipalities as Landfill Site Assistants, Waste Collection Administrators and Environmental Awareness Educators.
Further work opportunities will be created from the construction activities associated with the building or erection of landfill site offices, ablution facilities, as well as weighpad platforms at landfill sites across the country.
The programme will be rolled out in five provinces around the country, Free State, North West, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The Free State will see 330 young people recruited for the project, 326 in the North West and 140 each for the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
It is also expected that some of the young people recruited into the programme will move on to further their environmental careers, either in other employment sectors or become involved in business ventures.
As part of the programme and in response to the technical knowledge gap with regards to landfill site operation and management, the department conducted training sessions in all provinces in the 2011/12 fiscal year.
Upon completing the short course, young people will be based at the Landfill Operations and will assist with the day-to-day management and administration related to the operations at the landfills. Key tasks relate to the operation of weighpad technology as well as monitoring workface activities.
Young people placed as Waste Collection Administrators will be responsible for assisting collections managers to plan, manage, monitor and implement the collection of waste in municipalities.
Those recruited as Environmental Awareness Educators will be attached to a local municipality to assist the municipality in the introduction and implementation of source separation in the form of campaigns. – SAnews.gov.za
