Zibi, the ‘rubbish eating ostrich’ affectionately remembered by many of us, has been given a new lease on life by the City of Cape Town’s Solid Waste Department, which is going to use him to influence a whole new generation of Capetonians.

The City recently purchased the rights to use the well known and loved ostrich character, which was popular in the 1980s and 1990s to once again have him and the catchy slogan ‘Zappit in a Zibi-bin’ influence the citizens of Cape Town in 2010 and beyond. Zibi will form an integral part of the Solid Waste Department’s education campaigns to spread the message: Be environmentally conscious, take care of your own environment, don’t litter and don’t dump.

According to Leander van Oordt, Head: Public Awareness and Education for Solid Waste: “Zibi will be joining the City’s Solid Waste team as a waste champion who is a highly trained master recycler and is skilled in fighting littering and dumping in public areas. Through educational and awareness programmes Zibi will help fight the reckless temptation to litter, promote recycling and be hard on dumpers who are not complying with the law.”

Apart from littering and dumping, Zibi will be taking the ‘Think Twice’ recycling campaign under his wing. “Reducing, recycling and re-using will all now be part of Zibi’s territory, as will the reduction of waste that is sent to our landfill sites through split bag initiatives and other campaigns that the City is currently and will in the future be running,” she said.

Zibi will give Capetonians advice on how to keep compostable waste out of the City’s landfill sites, by teaching them how to make compost heaps at home and also how to build worm farms at home and at school.

At the launch, Alderman Clive Justus, Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, also expressed his excitement about Zibi joining the City’s Utility Services team. “I believe that Zibi’s ethos in dealing with the whole waste cycle fully incorporates a mantra that I often use: ‘We should be leaving better than we found; taking a pride in all we do and delivering on what we promise’.

“We look forward to a long period of successful campaigning and to a close working relationship with Zibi in making a visible difference in the habits in all of us. Whether it is dealing with littering and dumping, the reduction of waste to a landfill and the efficient management of the solid waste streams, let increasing general awareness ‘be the name of the game’. Zibi will be playing on our side and will be our leading goal scorer for waste reduction from the start of the Football World Cup and for many, many more years to come,” Justus said.

Zibi says….. ZAPPIT in a Zibi-bin!