Benjamin from Northcliff writes:
Thank you for your interesting articles on ARO [African Reclaimers Organisation] and the proposed new recycling fee.
I am not sure why reclaimers will be affected by the new fee. Pikitup has been collecting our recyclable waste for years. They provide clear plastic bags and all plastic, bottles, tins and paper are placed in there and removed each week.
It is collected separately from the bins with domestic waste. They used to have separate bags for paper but they now have everything in the one bag.
As they have been providing this service for years, I fail to see why they now need a separate fee. It was previously paid out of the waste disposal fee.
Secondly, I would query the claim that 90 per cent of recycling is handled by the reclaimers. All our recycling is done by Pikitup.
The reclaimers merely go through the bags we put out for collection each week and remove certain items for themselves.
This is usually plastic bottles and amounts to less than 10 per cent of what is in the bags.
Please note that I am not suggesting that reclaimers do not provide a useful service and I appreciate that they often have no other source of income.
So I am not advocating the banning or restricting of their activities.
