Jeppe High School for Boys has become involved in an innovative refuse collection project called the Community Bin Project. Those driving along Marshall Street, the school’s Southern boundary, below the rugby and hockey fields, would have noticed that the litter which used to be there is all but gone.
The project is the brainchild of Claudio Bufa Pace and his partner, Antoinette Botha, who live in the house that used to be the nunnery attached to St Anne’s church, on the corner of Marshall and Boom streets, Belgravia. After moving in, they realised that the litter in the streets around them was a major problem. The domestic garbage from the houses in the area is being put out on the streets and is not being collected, so Pace and Botha decided to do something about it.
Community Bins has placed flow bins on the sidewalks. These bins consist of one cubic metre metal cages fitted with polypropylene bags. The bags transport loose materials in bulk. The bags fit within the flow bin and can be removed when full. They have big openings, so the garbage pickers can sift through them without dumping their contents in the street.
The bins are chained down and there is a mast at each site, fitted with a motion-activated light, a camera and a loudspeaker. ‘We hope that the light creates a sense of security. The camera records activity in the area and messaging can be broadcast through the loudspeaker,’ said Pace.
The bins have been placed at sites along Marshall Street, including outside the school, and, according to Botha, the results have been amazing. ‘There is an undoubted decrease in visible loose litter,’ she said. ‘We have sat at a distance, observing the sites and have seen people cross the road with their bags of garbage to place them in the bin.’
The couple are in the process of registering Community Bin Project as an NPO, which will allow them to raise funds to support the project. In the meantime, they are dependent on contributions from the organisations who are benefitting from having clean streets around them, including Jeppe High School for Boys. The plan is to expand into other areas that have a similar problem.
The Community Bins Project’s work has been already recognised on a wider scale – they have been nominated for a Waste Innovation award by the international WasteAid organisation. The project requires assistance in terms of monetary donations; introductions that might benefit the initiative or donations of polypropylene bags or flow bins.
Community Bins Project
064 516 8656
info@communitybin.org.za
Jeppe High School For Boys
011 614 1938
hms@jeppeboys.co.za
