The Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality was announced the winner in the Metropolitan Municipality category of the Greenest Municipality Competition (GMC) by Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Rejoice Mabudafhasi, at an awards ceremony, in Durban, on Friday.

As a result, the municipality would receive prize money of R3.5-million, which must be leveraged for environmental-related projects and green economy initiatives.

The Greater Tzaneen municipality was announced the overall winner in the Local Municipality category and also received prize money of R3.5-million.

The GMC awards municipalities that effectively implement the National Waste Management Strategy and adhere to the principles of reducing, recycling and reusing waste materials, while promoting development of the green economy.

Commenting on the award, Mabudafhasi said the implementation of measures to strengthen and expand economic growth through recycling and enterprise development, as well as formalising existing jobs in the waste area, was critical.

She added that the Department of Environmental Affairs had conducted numerous studies that clearly illustrated the capacity constraints experienced by municipalities in delivering waste services in landfill operations, waste collection planning and administration, as well as refuse collection.

“The low levels of capacity in municipalities present an excellent opportunity for the creation of jobs, on-the-job training, continuous upskilling, as well as enterprise development for the youth. An estimated 3 577 jobs will be created by placing young people in municipalities, where they will work as landfill site assistants, waste collection administrators and environmental awareness educators,” Mabudafhasi commented.

A total of 111 metropolitan and local municipalities competed for the awards.