Waste pickers to be integrated into formal business
CLAYVILLE - Amalgated Beverage Industries (ABI) together with the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research hosted a Waste Dialogue at ABI's headquarters.
Managing director of ABI, Velaphi Ratshefola, said the dialogue was an important one to have as the proper management of waste could result in the creation of formalised small businesses.
“Dialogues create opportunities to reduce the marginalising of waste pickers [collectors],” he said referring to a story in the media in which some waste collectors claimed they were abused by criminal elements at dump sites.
Mamosa Afrika, director of general waste at the environmental department, said although there was a national Waste Pickers Association, many pickers felt that the sector was disorganised. Waste pickers have, in the past, been advised to form co-operatives – starting a business together as equal partners with equal responsibilities – by the Department of Small Business Development.
The council’s Dr Linda Godfrey said this bid to try and formalise the sector had not worked. “They seem to use the co-operatives as a means to access government grants, and that’s it. The success of these co-operatives is questionable,” she said.
Deputy minister of Small Business Development, Elizabeth Thabethe, said it was crucial for waste pickers to understand how co-operatives worked. “Understanding co-operatives is problematic and this is due to lack of knowledge of business principles,” she said.
She said her department was committed to the creation of a business agency, an academy for business principles and a tribunal in order to improve working conditions for waste pickers.
Is there a business dialogue you would like the community to be a part of? Let us know on midrandreporter@caxton.co.za
