Youth Jobs in Waste programme

Introduction and background

During the delivery of the 2013/14 Budget Vote speech in Parliament by Minister Edna Molewa, the minister emphasised the department's concern over the growing number of unemployed young people. Scores of young people in South Africa are unemployed, some despite having achieved tertiary education. In March 2006 youth unemployment was estimated at 50.3% for 14-24 year olds and 29.5% for 25-35 year olds. This is an untenable state of affairs and requires immediate attention by all organs of state as well the private sector.

The waste sector has been identified as one of the critical sectors, with the potential to contribute substantially to the generation of jobs within the green economy. It is in this light that the department is increasingly expanding its programmes in job creation and enterprise development programmes within the Waste sector. The current initiative is aimed at addressing youth unemployment in our country, in a sustainable manner.

The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa launched the Youth Jobs in Waste Programme on 17 June 2013. The launch, which took place in Phuthaditjhaba, Free State, formed part of the Department of Environmental Affairs’ (DEA) Environment and Youth Month celebrations.

Speaking at the launch the Minister said, “The waste sector has been identified as one of the critical sectors with the potential to contribute substantially to the generation of jobs within the green economy. It is in this light that the department is increasingly expanding its programmes in job creation and enterprise development programmes in this sector.”

The Youth Jobs in Waste Programme is the result of a study that DEA undertook in 2007, which assessed the status of waste services delivery, as well as capacity at local government level. The study presented an account of the backlog with regards to solid waste service delivery in all municipalities in the country. In order to address this backlog, and create capacity within municipalities in order to lessen the burden with regards to the provision of waste services, the department developed this initiative. It was also developed in recognition of the fact that the waste sector is now, more than ever, ready for major investment in both infrastructure development as well as capacity building programmes to create decent jobs and fuel the green economy.

Aims and objectives of the project

The programme aims to create job opportunities, on-the-job training, continuous up-skilling, as well as enterprise development for the youth. An estimated 1 000 job opportunities will be created by placing young people in municipalities as Landfill Site Assistants, Waste Collection Administrators and Environmental Awareness Educators. Further work opportunities will be created from the construction activities associated with the building or erection of landfill site offices, ablution facilities, as well as weigh pad platforms at landfill sites across the country. It is also expected that some of the young people recruited into the Programme will move on to further their environmental careers, either in other employment sectors or become involved in business ventures.

Training opportunities

The Department of Environmental Affairs has conducted numerous studies that have clearly illustrated the capacity constraints that are experienced by municipalities, in delivering waste services. Municipalities lack capacity including but not limited to: landfill operations, waste collection planning and administration, separation at source and refuse collection.

In response to the lack of technical knowledge in landfill site operation and management, the department conducted training sessions in all provinces in the 2011/12 fiscal year. It is crucial to ensure continuity in landfill site operations and management, and thus it is crucial to involve young people to this technical field. It is in this context that the DEA now wants to extend this training to 462 young peoplewho will be placed in municipalities across the country in this current year.

The young people, upon completing the short course, will be based at the landfill operations and will assist with day to day management and administration related to the operations at the landfills. Key tasks they would undertake there relate to the operation of weigh-pad technology, as well as monitoring workface activities.

The training interventions that the Department of Environmental Affairs has conducted, have revealed that it is necessary to create permanent capacity within municipalities to lessen the capacity burden in respect of provisioning of waste services. The low levels of capacity in municipalities present an excellent opportunity for creation of jobs, on the job training, continuous up-skilling as well as enterprise development for the youth.

An estimated 3 577 jobs will be created by placing young people in Municipalities, who will be serving as:

Landfill Site Assistants;
Waste Collection Administrators; and
Environmental Awareness Educators.

Further work opportunities will be created from the construction activities associated with the building or erection of landfill site offices, ablution facilities as well as weigh-pad platforms at landfill sites across the country.

Young people in each of South Africa’s nine provinces will benefit from this programme. The provincial distribution of the jobs is as follows:

KwaZulu-Natal - 728, jobs created
Eastern Cape - 566
Western Cape - 366
Limpopo - 350
North West - 326
Northern Cape - 273
Mpumalanga - 262
Gauteng - 326
And in the Free State province, 380 young people will benefit from the programme.

Sources

Minister Bomo Edna Molewa tables Environmental Affairs 2013/14 Budget Vote

We committed in our 2012/13 Budget Vote speech to launch the Youth Jobs in Waste Programme, in June. This project is expected to create 330 job opportunities in waste in the Free State and 326 in the North West. The project, once rolled out nationally, is intended to provide 3 577 young people with job opportunities in waste management and related entrepreneurship.

Minister Edna Molewa's speech at the launch of the Youth Jobs In Waste Programme

The waste sector has been identified as one of the critical sectors, with the potential to contribute substantially to the generation of jobs within the green economy. It is in this light that the department is increasingly expanding its programmes in job creation and enterprise development programmes within the waste sector. The current initiative is aimed at addressing youth unemployment in our country, in a sustainable manner.