November 02, 2011

Waste management company, Tedcor has been appointed by the Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) to render refuse collection in Kagiso, Azaadville, Munsieville, all Estates in the north as well as the rural areas. From now on, every household in the MCLM will receive professionally managed refuse collection every week.

The service kicked off this week when 51 000 households saw the Tedcor trucks come rumbling down the streets picking up household refuse for delivery to the landfill. This means that over 100 people from the local community, who were previously unemployed, will now have a job and are able to support their families. Seven new SMME’s have also been created, which is the lifeline for economic development at grass-roots level.

Clarence Hamman, Tedcor’s CEO says that Tedcor is delighted to be involved in service delivery to the Mogale City communities.  “By providing a clean and healthy environment we will be making a difference to the lives of all the residents.”

To date, many municipalities, provincial government and national government - including the MCLM, have adopted the concept as standard practise for household waste collection.  A core of highly trained workers and community contractors are already making a significant contribution to the delivery of refuse.  As a result, job opportunities, skills development and empowerment have been achieved. 

Tedcor is leading the way in how business and local government can work together to supply service delivery. Since its inception in 1994, it has worked with municipal officials, within the tendering process, to deliver professional and efficient waste management services. 

There are now more than 150 community contactors from historically disadvantaged backgrounds around the country who have acquired their own waste management businesses.  This has been achieved through the training and support of Tedcor, the banks and equipment suppliers.

Each appointed community contractor is commissioned to collect household refuse from between 6000 and 7500 houses.  They, in turn, employ between 12 and 14 people.  These are then split up into three teams that collect the waste from door to door, sweep the streets and litter-pick the open areas.

 “As a country, we have a duty to instil a sense of ecological responsibility in our people.  A strategic element of the green economy lies in keeping the environment clean through awareness and the introduction of professional and efficient waste-management programmes. Job creation in waste management, therefore, is pivotal to sustainability,” says Tedcor’s executive director, Victor Nemukula

“The success of sustainable waste management lies in reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. There are presently over 1200 such sites in the country all of which are reaching their capacity.  Reducing the amount of waste that goes into these sites can be achieved by efficient management, waste processing and recycling.  Of course, sorting at source is incumbent on communities taking responsibility for recycling their waste,” he says.