Johannesburg will be a megacity within 10 years
The United Nations predicts that before the year 2030, barely 10 years from now, Johannesburg will become a megacity, defined as an urban area with more than 10 million people – and that excludes Pretoria and the Vaal Triangle. Gulp!
This will make the city one of the 50 largest in the world, and one of the 4 largest in Africa.
Of course, this will mean more opportunities for people to create a better life, and it will also mean lots more people, consuming lots more products, and thus producing tons and tons of extra waste.
This is good business for Tedcor with its specific focus on enterprise development and empowering formerly disadvantaged communities, but it will place greater strain on the city and its institutions, and therefore its residents.
“While we are the home of sexy waste management,” says Verona Ismail, CEO of Tedcor, “we are also acutely aware that our mandate is not just to collect waste, but also to educate people on creating less of it, so that we can keep the city’s green lungs clean, dispose of waste quickly and efficiently, and create a healthier environment for all people.”
Cape Town, Durban and many of the country’s other cities are also growing rapidly – not to mention the behemoth urban areas in other parts of Africa, so we have our work cut out for us!
New video puts Tedcor into perspective in just 3 minutes
Tedcor’s new website comes complete with its own video – and that’s good news for people in a hurry. The new flick puts Tedcor’s value proposition forward in just a sort span of time, meaning that potential clients of Tedcor and the community at large can interface with the company and get a quick overview of what it is all about.
“When I was originally encouraged to do the video,” says Verona Ismail, CEO of Tedcor, “I had my reservations. Firstly, I am an accountant by nature, not a TV presenter! Secondly, I didn’t want this to be some shiny corporate toy. I really wanted it to be about the people that we serve – both our sub-contractors, who do the waste management work for us, and our clients and the communities where we clean up the streets.”
The video ably achieves that aim, in that it sums Tedcor up in just three words: reduce, re-use, recycle. On another level, it also espouses corporate good governance, community, and conservation.
“We are the home of sexy waste management,” Ismail concludes. “It is thrilling to get up and help people, while also helping the environment, and getting paid for doing what we love. We like to think our video helps people see how we turn trash into treasure.”
Please view the video here:
It’s Matric Dance time. How can your school use its trash?
All over the country, young scholars are gearing up for Matric exams as we fast approach the second half of the year. In between all that studying, these pretty young things will don silk and chiffon, lace and Lapis Lazuli, and collar and cummerbund, to make the best impression they can as they dance the night away.
Choosing the theme is always a big deal, as is the decoration of the hall where the party is going to happen. And Tedcor is laying down a challenge for schools, to re-use their waste to make the dance hall props and decorations.
Under The Sea? A Night at The Proms? Bonfire of the Vanities? Whatever your theme, just how creatively can you recycle 2-litre plastic bottles to mimic the ocean bubbles, or the stars in the heavens? Just how smartly can you take soda cans and turn them into an entrance arch, or a corner display, or a backdrop for photos?
Give it some thought, and please send us your pics! We’d love to see how and what you did.
Litter bug, litter bug, you’re not creating jobs…
A video recently went viral on Facebook, where a man in a family car started throwing trash out of the window at a traffic stop. The driver of another car stopped behind him grabbed some of the rubbish and threw it back into his car, but not before scolding him for being so inconsiderate and selfish. The culprit sheepishly alighted from his car and went to collect the rest of the trash – and just as well, because the area was pristinely beautiful and unspoilt.
Are we guilty of such offences? There is a perception in South Africa that by simply dumping trash, we are creating jobs for cleaners. But is this really the case, or is that just an excuse for our own laziness and bad habits, that have led to us becoming ill-mannered?
This is a major concern with the construction of the new Wild Coast Toll Road on the N2 between Durban and East London, where two new massive bridges will ford unspoilt ravines and gorges. The bridges will include viewing decks of the magnificent landscape below. Let us hope that some hooligan doesn’t decide to “create jobs” by throwing rubbish down into the ravines, for that would spoil the unparalleled beauty of this place we call home.