A HELPING HAND
With financial and non-financial support to community-level cooperatives and enterprises
PIKITUP has made significant progress in reducing historical inequalities and building an inclusive economy by supporting the participation of local Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in delivering world-class waste management services.
Pikitup not only gives financial and non-financial support to community-level cooperatives and enterprises, mainly through its Separation at Source and Jozi@Work programmes, the entity also encourages a progressive culture of treating waste not as ‘rubbish’, to interacting with it as a valuable resource.
The success of these enterprises also confirms the potential of the waste sector to contribute to SMME development, job creation, support the manufacturing sector and the growth of the secondary materials economy in the City of Johannesburg.
Among such organisations are Bontle Ke Tlhago Waste Recyling Cooperative in Diepsloot Township, North of Johannesburg, and Siyaphumelela Waste Recyling Cooperative in Orange Farm, South of the City.
Mxolisi Mulauzi (32), one of five executives of Bontle Ke Tlhago, says the project has proved to be a game-changer for many young people of Diepsloot in terms of taking them away from wallowing in the streets, enabling them to make some money and restoring their dignity and self esteem.
“We are also making a huge impact in the fight against crime, whilst helping encourage people to care for the environment by collecting, sorting and selling recyclable waste material,” he said.
Bontle Ke Tlhago was formed half a decade ago and was subsequently empowered when PPC Cement donated a sorting facility and a truck to the City to allow Mulauzi and his colleagues to start a recycling programme. In 2012, the Cooperative entered into a contract with Pikitup to implement S@S programme whereupon the entity gave them access to other trucks.
“We are growing in leaps and bounds and now we have 10 more people in our employ whose main responsibility is to collect and sort recyclable material. We also have over 150 people from whom we buy waste they collect in and around Diepsloot,” Mulauzi said.
He added that the Cooperative has developed a database from the reclaimers to help them get waste hub permits as part of the Reclaimer Integration Initiative of the City of Johannesburg. Over the past few months, Bontle Ke Tlhago has managed to expand their collection networks to new areas such as Kyalami and this trend continues to grow.
“In five years time we want to be a fully-fledged waste processing entity which employs at least 500 people on a permanent basis, whilst giving opportunities to thousands more,” Mulauzi said.
Meanwhile, in Orange Farm Siyaphumelela Cooperative has also developed big dreams for its operations with the view to become an end-user product manufacturer from waste. One of the executive members Xolani Sikhakhane said plans are afoot to expand operations to surrounding communities, such as the Vaal.
Formed in 2013, initially by six members whose main focus was education and awareness around the protection of the environment and preservation of natural resources, the organisation navigated towards the waste business and partnered with Pikitup.
Sikhakhane said through participation in the Separation@Source programme they have managed to employ 33 people to collect and sort recyclable material. What sets Siyaphumelela apart is that it has been consistent in buying material at a higher price than its competitors.
“Pikitup helped us apply under the Cooperative Investment Scheme (CIS) from the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), which saw us get support to buy a truck.
“We continue to set the standard in waste management as we are constantly invited on peer education exercises,” he said.
So successful are their programmes that several organisations in government and the private sector have supported Siyaphumelela with office space, equipment and other logistics.
Xolani said they were putting a lot of effort in dealing with illegal dumping and running youth education programmes through the community radio station in the area.