‘Litter’ our parks with waste bins to solve the litter problem

Johannesburg’s Zoo Lake park on a Sunday morning in summer looks more like a rubbish dump, than the wonderful ‘Central Park’ facility we are privileged to have in this city. I walk my dogs there most weekends and have become increasingly appalled at the wanton littering from the previous day’s parties.

I don’t know what it is that allows revellers to dump their litter – bottles, cans, paper plates, plastic cups, plastic bags, food scraps and all sorts of junk – on the grass, under the trees, in or near the ponds, often within throwing distance of a litter bin. It boggles my mind. And the often heard cheap remark that littering ‘creates a job for someone’, to me demonstrates a mindless disregard and disrespect for our environment and our fellow citizens.

So what is the solution?

Is it to have better policing of our parks and public spaces?  Is it the enforcement of fines and penalties? Is it fencing off our parks and charging entry fees? Perhaps it is some or all of these.

Or perhaps there is another way.

How about ‘littering’ our parks with waste bins?

Bins everywhere. Under every tree, across all the lawns, at all entry and exit points and alongside all ponds, viewpoints and car parks. A sea of waste bins, as far as the eye can see, such that no-one can go anywhere without having to pass a set of bins.

Not only rubbish bins, but colour coded bins which could encourage recycling. Green bins for bottles, blue bins for paper, red bins for plastics, yellow bins for cans and black bins for food waste and other rubbish.

What if the picnickers and would-be litterers were confronted by clumps of colour coded waste bins, wherever they chose to settle for the day’s party? Bins that were clearly marked: ‘BOTTLES’, ‘PAPER’, ‘PLASTICS, ’CANS’ and ‘GENERAL RUBBISH’. All urging them to repose their litter and separate it into recyclable categories. With park rangers or metro police circulating among the public, NOT imposing fines or admonitions, but EDUCATING people on the values of recycling their litter and contributing to a respectful and clean environment.

Yes, there would probably be an outcry.

‘Infringement of our rights by restricting our use of public spaces.’

‘Spoiling our public spaces by cluttering them with bins.’

‘Killing the natural beauty of our public parks.”

But then, would it be not preferable to see bins all over that park, rather than see mounds of litter strewn all over the place? Might we not end up with a cleaner park, which we could enjoy so much the better? And is this not a huge opportunity for us to educate our children and our fellow citizens on the values of recycling and in having a respect for our valuable public spaces?

How could we make this happen?

I feel sure that:

1. Recycling companies could easily fund the provision of bins with the value of waste material collected.
2. Suitably designed bins could be made as attractive as possible.
3. Bins could be securely fixed in place so as to avoid their theft.
4. Parks departments and local municipalities could collect litter more efficiently if their staff were employed to empty bins rather than having to pick up loose items from the ground.
5. Rubbish or waste, if contained in bins, would be less likely to be carried by the wind to other parts of the area.
6. By ‘imposing’ bins rather than fines, we could discourage the current culture of littering and create an educational opportunity for more sensitive environmental awareness.

In order to promote a BIN CULTURE rather than a LITTERING CULTURE, my challenge is this:

1. To recycling companies – to do the maths on the provision of bins in relating to the values of recyclable material collected.
2. To designers – to produce an eye-catching design for bin clusters, which are functional, manageable, secure and that clearly spell out the recycling message.
3. To local municipalities and parks departments – to think ‘out of the box’ and see the possibilities of staff education and in employing ‘public advisors’ rather than ‘law enforcers’ to patrol our parks and public areas.
4. To the citizens of our cities and towns and to those who use our recreational parks and public spaces – to see the value of a litter free environment, in which we can all benefit.
5. To readers of this post – to propose a better solution if you have one.

Out of the box thinking to save our rhinos?

Over 1000 rhinos were slaughtered in South Africa last year. So far in 2014, the figure stands at nearly 500. Here is an innovative idea which could help….

A young South-African entrepreneur has been recognised by Google for using game technology and YouTube videos to prevent high-school boys from considering rhino poaching as a viable career option.

Mbekezeli Khumalo, 26, from Soweto is co-creator of Trees and Rhinos, a video and soon-to-be game.

Khumalo is one of 20 semi-finalists in the Africa Connected Campaign, an initiative by Google aimed at innovative, entrepreneurial web adopters from across sub-Saharan Africa who have used the web to overcome challenges, transform their work and the lives of others.

The semi-finalists were selected from more than 2 200 entries from 35 countries. Five overall winners will each receive $25 000 (R260 000) and six months mentorship from a Google sponsor.

Khumalo is the team leader for BoxworM, a company that aims to fix everyday problems using technology and help re-position industries in this “new tech era”.

BoxworM was started when Khumalo and co-founders were at university. Their first project was an e-learning solution they developed for their classmates to help out with a subject everyone was having trouble with.

The company has been around for three years and Khumalo said last year they decided to challenge themselves to conceptualise a solution to tackle rhino-poaching using technology.

“I started seeing people driving around in their cars with the little red horn on the front. We asked around to try to figure out what that was all about and it was then that the rhino crisis really became apparent to us,” he said.

After research, they came up with Trees and Rhinos, which uses and illustrates the latest anti-poaching technology.

Khumalo, who studied quantity surveying at Wits university, said he could not disclose how the game worked entirely as it may alert poachers to new anti-poaching technology.

The game will be free.

“We aim to use the game to teach children who go to school near game reserves across South Africa about rhino conservation,” said Khumalo.

“We are doing this because while we were conducting our research we found out that the kids in those schools, specifically in matric, are starting to look at poaching as a profitable career option! We think this is devastating and this game is a great way to combat that.”

Khumalo said the game would be similar to Mario Brothers.

“It will have a story line where the player is a baby rhino that is separated from its mother. The player must work through the game and obstacles to find its mother.”

The game will be in 2D because it can be downloaded and played on even the most basic colour wap phones.

“There is no need for fancy phones to play or download it. That is important to us as the kids who we want to play this game live in impoverished areas.”

Text taken from:

http://www.4-traders.com/GOOGLE-INC-C-16118013/news/GOOGLE-C–Game-on-for-hi-tech-rhino-saving-18476079/

Follow Mbekezeli Khumalo’s intriguing venture on:

https://twitter.com/boxworMofficial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSQynOyuOdo

 

My contribution to Eskom, the country, the planet … and me

I have just taken a leap of faith and installed solar heating in my home in Johannesburg. About time, some might say, but I like ,any others in the country have been seduced over the years by a perception of cheap electricity. That is until the power cuts started back in 2007 and have continued ever since.

After the latest round of cuts, I have finally ‘bitten the bullet’ and decided that I should start being self-sufficient. I started rain water harvesting last year and now intend to reap my share of the 300 days of sunshine we have in Johannesburg every year.

What will we achieve?

Well, for a start, we’ll have hot water, even if the power goes off. And added to that we’ll have have hot water heating (solar heated) in our coldest rooms in the winter. Best of all, we’ll more that halve our electricity bills.

More than that, we’ll use less Eskom power (they are woefully short of supply) and we’ll consume less of their coal fired generated power – good for the planet too?

When our household handyman, Dumisani, asked why we had done it, I explained that I felt we should all do something (rather than complain). And doing something, however small, would make a difference.

His response was: “If we all do a little……. then there’ll be a lot.”

Spot on!

NGOs unite!

I met a lawyer the other day who suggested that we are all to pre-occupied with governments and politicians. We give them far to much credence for what the they do NOT do, even though they spend a lot of time telling us what they (think) they actually do.

She (the lawyer) reminded me that hundreds of non government organisations (NGOs) actually do their work, often selflessly, but certainly effectively – for people at the ground level. And this they do, in spite of what governments and politicians say or (don’t) do.

She went on to suggest that if all NGOs got together, they (we) could run the country. Now, there’s an inspiring thought….