Social Employment fund clean up project

Clean City SA is on a mission to address unemployment, food security and waste management across the Inner City of Johannesburg. By collaborating with communities where they live, Clean City SA is changing residents’ attitudes towards littering. Clean City SA is partner organisation to The Johannesburg Inner City Social Employment Programme, through managing the day-to-day operations of the allocated 250 participants on the project. The Clean City SA participants focus on street sweeping and litter picking in this project. The Clean City SA project commenced on the 5^th of December 2022 and scheduled to end on 30 June 2023.

As part of the Social Employment Fund (SEF), Clean City SA participants work in 10 strategic locations to focus their efforts in this project within the Inner City of Johannesburg. The locations include the Metro Taxi Rank, St Marys Cathedral, Retail, Residential, Fashion and Textile Districts, Drill Hall, Joubert Park, High Court and Doornfontein.

By 30 March 2023, the project achieved the following milestones:

• 72 blocks have been cleaned-up.
• 25,378 refuse bags full of litter collected.
• The Participants always participate in campaigns such as the War on Waste organized by the city.
• The Participants also participated in the mega Joburg clean-up, over five consecutive days in March 2023 that was organized by GDARDE.
• Pikitup supports the programme by collecting refuse bags from the 10 GFA.
• The programme piloted the #OneBagOneTrader campaign on De Villiers Street, from Rissik Street to the St Mary’s Cathedral.
• The #OneBagOneTrader pilot campaign was about issuing a bag per week to informal traders to put waste from their trading operations.
• The #OneBagOneTrader pilot campaign over a period of 3 months was well received by the informal traders and made a visible difference in terms of less visible littering around the area.
• From April 2023, Pikitup supports the programme by issuing weekly refuse bags that are used by the Participants.

190 Clean City SA participants attended the Waste Management Training through Pikitup on the 8^th and 9^th May 2023. The training is intended to assist the participants chances of being employable in the future.