One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
A co-op in Randburg encourages residents to use their recyling depot.
At Pitkitup’s Randburg Recycling Site on Hans Schoeman Street, there is a primary co-op called Eyonayethu – five entrepreneurial guys who are making a living turning trash into cash, as part of Pikitup’s ongoing separation-at-source project.
“A lot of people don’t know what we actually do here at this facility,” said co-op member Bongani Mofokeng. “We don’t do business with the informal recyclers, the trolley men. They take whatever they collect to privately owned buy-back centres. Ideally we would like to be able to do business with the trolley men. But we are still waiting for regulation of the informal waste management sector.”
Currently Eyonayethu collects recyclable waste from townhouse complexes, industrial complexes, shopping centres, restaurants, and businesses in the area. “Our main client is Nampak,” said Mofokeng. “They come and collect the separated recyclable waste from us and pay us per kilo of material collected. Metal, glass, paper, and plastic. Other than general domestic waste, the recycling industry can use pretty much anything you throw out.”
“We are still new, still growing,” added Mofokeng’s colleague Peter Thwane. “We formalised and registered as a co-op in October 2014. At the moment, we are focusing on streamlining the logistics of the day-to-day operations, to make this co-op as profitable and sustainable as possible.” Co-ops form part of the Jo’burg 2040 growth and development strategy, in an effort to empower entrepreneurs and build a recycling culture which adopts Pikitup’s motto of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’.
“We have a mandate to change the city to a low-carbon economy by 2040,” explained Mofokeng. “Since all these co-ops started in Joburg, we have helped recover around 30 per cent of the city’s waste, diverting anything recyclable, anything with resale value, from landfill sites to companies like Nampak. So we are moving in the right direction. But we would like more buy-in from the public. For residents to play an active role in the process of separation-at-source, and to support co-ops like ours.”
“You don’t need to do any physical sorting of your recyclable waste,” said Thwane. “We do all that here on site. Next time you do a springclean, rather than just binning the stuff you’re throwing out, please bring it here to our depot instead.”
Eyonayethu would also like to make an appeal to anyone who can donate an old bakkie or trailer or lightweight truck for them to use on their collection rounds. All the support they get is hugely appreciated.
Details: Bongani Mofokeng, eyonayethu@gmail.com or 078 585 7723; Peter Thwane, 083 767 7173.
