As the winter chill sets in getting up for work becomes more of challenge. But what if your job entails walking the streets in the icy weather seven days a week?
Louis Sibiya from Kenmare’s job expects just that.
Sibya who contentedly carries the label of dustbin digger wakes up for work before sunrise each morning.
His job is to sift through a large number of households’ waste in search of recyclable plastic.
More than 10 bags of waste gets him R90, a difficult task but one he takes on vigorously because he needs to support his three-year-old son Junior Sibiya.
Until a year ago Sibiya was just another man with a trolley walking the streets of Krugerdorp until Adele Collins crossed his path.
Collins, a nursery school principal by profession, always has had a passion for helping people. She says that Sibiya and his son crept into her heart when she met them alongside the road.
She immediately took Junior into her school free of charge but she wanted to do more.
Collins, a creative individual saw an opportunity not only to help Sibiya but thousands of others just like him.
“I designed a customised trolley and had it made for Sibya – a tool to make his difficult job easier,” she says.
“I came up with the idea to have more trolleys made for other dustbin diggers because the commonly used supermarket trolleys get confiscated regularly as it is illegal to use them. Then they are left stranded with heaps of plastic and unable to carry it further,” she explains.
Her idea grew even bigger to benefit local business.
“I turned the once ugly trolleys into a vehicle for advertising by selling space for business posters on the trolleys,” she explains.
The trolleys travel everywhere and motorist regularly are stuck looking at the trolleys. It becomes a billboard on wheels.
Collins also sells recycle bins in which homeowners can place their plastic waste to be collected – another method she uses to give dustbin diggers more dignity.
Funds from this project will assist children such as Junior with an education and will support a family who recently lost their father to cancer.
Those interested can contact Adele on 083 306 2668.
