Pretoria - World Environment Day started on a sweet note in Nellmapius, when newly appointed dignitaries got their hands dirty.
First up was Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, Barbara Creecy, who led community clean-up activities.
Armed with a spade, she planted one of the 120 trees that were donated to an open space in the area that is used as a landfill site.
Next she used waste bags to pick up paper and bottles in the area.
She said the country's landfills are rapidly running out of space and the only solution is recycling.
Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, Barbara Creecy, plants a tree in Nellmapius. Video: Sakhile Ndlazi
With 108 million tonnes of waste generated by South Africans each year, the only way to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills is to re-use or recycle the waste generated.
She said the National Waste Management Strategy developed by the Department of Environmental Affairs is aiming to ensure all metropolitan municipalities, secondary cities and large towns have initiated separation-at-source programmes.
She encouraged communities and local community leaders to take up responsibility to enjoy and take care of the natural environment.
“If there is one thing that affects us all it is the environment, she said.
Also in on the conversation and getting his hands dirty was the Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Agriculture and Environment, Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
He said: “Unfortunately we have reached a point where our landfill sites are running out of space and for this reason, responsible waste management is crucial".
Recycling also creates more jobs.
For South Africa’s waste pickers, rubbish trucks are just like cash-in-transit vans filled with money.
According to the South African Waste Pickers’ Association, there are about 60 000 waste pickers in the country who are unemployed but make a living from recycling.
World Environment Day was established by the United Nations to increase awareness of the need to preserve and enhance the environment.
The people present circled the Nellmapius area picking up waste and even planted trees at the nearby Nellmapius clinic