The national awareness and behavior change campaign billed as “Make Mzantsi Beautiful” will rally the public to collect, recycle and dispose of litter and other waste appropriately. It is run jointly by the Department of Environmental Affairs, Indalo Yehtu, and Buyisa E Bag.

As the name of the campaign “Make Mzantsi Beautiful” suggests, the idea is to encourage every South African to take personal action to clean up and beautify their surroundings.  South Africa generates a huge volume of waste annually. This causes toxic landfill which result in emissions of dangerous green houses gases, threats to human health and contamination of ground water. These all serve to increase South Africa’s carbon footprint and contribution to climate change. Any diversion of waste from landfill assists with reducing this footprint and transforming the throw away culture in our society. The campaign also encourages South Africans to think about how to generate wealth from waste. Residents are to separate their waste and identify their nearest drop off point.

Says June Josephs-Langa, CEO of Indalo Yethu “Litter is a subject to which we can all relate irrespective of our social circumstances. We would all like to work, live, walk and shop in a clean environment. We have also learnt from past experience that when people become litter-conscious, it is easier to encourage a commitment to environmental consciousness and change behaviour.

The 2010 World Cup is a perfect platform to start this long-term initiative – as it gives everyone a reason to make their streets and public places as neat as possible and to keep them that way.” All South Africans are being encouraged to welcome the world to a cleaner SA. The campaign must start now and leave a lasting legacy. The environmental sector has enormous potential to create jobs, as well as divert waste from land fill sites.

The campaign encompasses three key aspects, all of which aim to deliver results now, but also to create the foundation for future initiatives.

Says Jacobs-Langa, “There are already many initiatives run by both the corporate sector and NGOs that are active in the area of waste management and recycling. We see community mobilization contact with people as a major driver for the success of this campaign. A meaning full way of getting this participation comes from people earning income or contribution to improving the lives of others, even if it is just through separating your waste to make recycling easier. A key challenge remains where there are no nearby drop off points or collection. We hope to address this by stimulating local enterprise development for recycling. The corporate sector’s involvement is key – firstly to explore ways in which we can assist them to leverage the CSI work being done around environmental sustainability to help create green jobs and to become campaign brand partners. We are to issuing a call for participation in the campaign via an exciting first-time initiative to co-brand the litter campaign. The aim is for major corporates to loan their billboards to the campaign for short periods of time – allowing joint participation and branding in the initiative, whilst creating unprecedented momentum for the campaign.

“Peer pressure or in this case, peer censure, is a critical factor in getting people to change their behaviour. The buzz created by a the community mobilisation alongside street theatre and create something from waste competition  – will create a resonant message to Make Mzantsi Beautiful.

“We are also seeking information about exciting Waste to Wealth stories. If you know of small businesses or entrepreneurs, who are creating wealth from waste, please let us know.

“Make Mzantsi Beautiful. It starts with you.!”

-for more information on the campaign call Mamohau Kekana on 011 840 7900