Recycling resident wants to change community’s mindset on recycling

Gary Kunitz, who lives in Selcourt Enclosure, would like to change the mindset of people to set up a recycling interest.

“One man’s waste is another man’s treasure,” he says.

What led him to this was a path of poverty and misfortune.

When he had to look for the next Rand he was too proud to ask anyone for help and decided to make a plan on his own.

He started to look at their daily disposed domestic rubbish waste differently and realised there was a treasure of money to be made.

“A daily meal on the table for the not so fortunate,” he says.

His family collects newspapers, toothpaste tubes and any plastic bottles which are high in polyethylene, a chemical substance of plastic.

According to him the substance is valuable to recycling industries who will pay good money for it.

“Empty tins have a monetary value too, but needs to be sold to the scrap metal merchants.

“However, you need to collect a fair amount to get any money but in the long run it is worth the effort if you are hungry and homeless,” says Kunitz.

According to him the trick in recycling is if you don’t want to dig in your garbage everyday, to sort your waste out before it hits the dustbin.

“Different boxes can be used to sort plastic, tin, cardboard and paper into,” he says.

He is now also helping collectors by putting out separate bags.

Kunitz says if these bags are put out every second week and a distance away from the wheely bins, these people will recognise them.

“Colour coded refuse bags will also make it easier for the collectors.

“When they get it to the recycling dealer they will sort the prospective bundles they want for resale themselves,” he says.

It takes two weeks for an average family of four to fill two black bags of recycling.

He worked out that four black bags of recycling gives a man an average of about R50, which is not a lot to some, but a meal for the collector and his family.

Therefore, when you do the maths, every two houses feeds a family for the day.

“There are too many hungry people, hence you will be dropping your carbon footprint, reducing landfills and toxic waste emissions in the air.

It is very simple to change one person’s mindset and then the family’s.

“If you plant a seed you get a tree,” says Kunitz.