Pilot project empowers informal waste recyclers

Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region joined forces with Kudoti, a waste tech start-up, to launch its RE-Imagine Tomorrow pilot project on September 18 in Thembisa.
The project aims to demonstrate how the circular economy is a viable solution for tackling the waste problem in commemorating National Recycling Week and Let’s Do It World Clean-up Day 2021.
Nestlé enabled 100 trash reclaimers to employ technology and track the quantity of waste collected and locate buyers using Kudoti’s technology platform and network by partnering with Kudoti and Destination Green, the implementation partner and buyback centre.
The waste collectors will be empowered and instructed on how to earn money and they will be paid a monthly stipend.
Business and finance education will be provided as well as physical resources such as protective gear to enable trash reclaimers to increase their earnings. Nestlé will also donate money toward the acquisition of a forklift, which will help the operation in the long run.
The pilot project will be implemented in stages for the Mqantsa community in Thembisa.
The first phase focuses on reawakening a concentrated rise in waste collection using informal waste reclaimers.
The engagement phase will include community education on rethinking their trash relationship and minimising their own waste impact.
Finally, the maintenance phase will bring repurposing to life by producing beauty out of garbage for the community’s benefit through public furniture made from collected waste.
The circular economy concept tries to collect trash for reuse and recycling by using waste streams as secondary resources.
This strategy should result in efficient economic growth with minimal negative environmental consequences.
Saint-Francis Tohlang, corporate communications and public affairs director at Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region, said informal waste reclaimers play an important role in the management of waste.
“It is important that we appreciate their role as heroes and find ways in which we can empower them further as we strive for a waste-free future.
“This pilot project is part of our broader RE sustainability initiative, which focuses on the pillars of rethink reduce and repurpose. Through working with a tech start-up, waste collectors, recyclers and the community, we believe we are engaging key stakeholders in the waste management cycle to be able to RE-imagine tomorrow.
“We hope that through this pilot project our partners and the community of Thembisa will see that there are opportunities that can be found in what we see as waste.”
The RE initiative encourages society to rethink, reduce and repurpose.
The rethink pillar is about encouraging broader society to rethink its relationship with the environment. Nestlé will educate the public about ways to change their behaviour to serve the environment through responsible practices such as recycling.
The reduce pillar highlights Nestlé’s commitment towards reducing its environmental impact to zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Lastly, the repurpose pillar focuses on upcycling and reusing materials which are crucial to driving a circular economy.
“Through this initiative, we hope to drive a paradigm shift by formulating and implementing solutions that will safeguard the environment. We hope that initiatives such as RE will encourage people not only in Tembisa but across the country, to play their part and rethink, reduce and repurpose” said Tohlang.
Members of the community and over 20 waste reclaimers, along with Nestlé, Kudoti, Destination Green and members of the media took part in a clean-up in Mqantsa, Thembisa, on the day to strengthen its collective contribution to a waste-free future for the community.