Petco empowers youth to tackle waste and unemployment

Against a background of South Africa’s 45.5% youth unemployment rate, not-for-profit (NPO) waste management organisation Petco – working with many stakeholders in the collection and recycling value chain – has gone on a major drive to upskill thousands of youths to start their own businesses in the industry.

In its announcement ahead of next week’s Youth Skills Day, Petco on Thursday said last year it:

• Saved 64.100 cubic metres of landfill space;
• Alleviated 314 tons of carbon emissions associated with virgin material production;
• Provided infrastructure support to buyback centres that helped sustain 910 employment opportunities and the livelihoods of more than 8 000 waste pickers;
• Organised 77 recycling workshops and three accredited business training courses nationwide – drawing almost 6 000 participants; and
• Supported 58 municipalities countrywide and two national and nine provincial departments with collection and recycling initiatives.

Waste pickers-turned-entrepreneurs

Speaking to Saturday Citizen on the sidelines of a Petco conference to honour stakeholders in the waste recycling industry, waste pickers-turned-entrepreneurs – formerly unemployed youths – praised the role of the NPO for its assistance.

Mogomotsi Msumba of Soweto, who described himself as “a university dropout”, said unemployment and hardship forced him to launch the Circle of Hope waste recycling company.

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“I dropped out of university to start Circle of Hope because I could not continue with my studies.

“My mother had a passion for the recycling industry, having begun collecting bottles. I started to do research about how I can improve what my mother has started.

“I started to engage companies like Mondi and Nampak, having volunteered at Nampak to learn a bit about the recycling industry, later becoming an active participant in the circular economy.

“I then turned around waste into commodities that can be used, some as by-products,” said Msumba.

Staff complement of 26 people

Terrence Xolile Masiza, owner of Wastecare Innovation – a recycling business in the West Rand’s Bekkersdal township – said: “We registered our company in 2017 and could only start operating in 2021 after the Covid lockdown. With the assistance of the local municipality, we have land where we store waste – with a staff complement of 26 people. We have PPE which has been donated.

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“We have not only managed to address unemployment in the area, but have impacted on poverty alleviation by ensuring that those working for us can put food on the table.

“As we collect waste from households we encourage households to recycle and generate income; because we come to the community to buy. Each time we collect, we pay each household anything from R100 to R200.”

6 000 members in Johannesburg alone

Eva Mokoena, organiser of The African Reclaimers Organisation, based in Selby, said the body had 6 000 members in Johannesburg alone – with branches in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga.

“We’re working on expanding throughout South Africa by launching more branches. What we are doing is quite important for us because we are able to put our kids through school. While to most people, recycling is regarded as dirty work, it is making a huge impact in the lives of communities.

“We regard ourselves as reclaimers and not waste pickers because we reclaim something of value. When you find fault in your laptop, you throw it away. “I then take it out of your waste bin and fix it to reuse or sell. People picking waste from any bin or landfill do so as a business,” said Mokoena.

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