Response worsens waste reclaimers’ plight
LOCKDOWNS to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus are transforming people’s daily lives.
One thing that remains unchanged is that we continue to produce massive amounts of waste each day.
South Africa generates 59 million tons of general waste a year. As only 10.8% of urban households separate their waste, most of the recyclable items get thrown away. Yet the country has recycling rates comparable to European countries for some materials.
This is thanks in large part to reclaimers who separate people’s recyclables, just outside their homes and at landfills. After salvaging the recyclables, the reclaimers haul them great distances, sort and clean them. They sell the materials to small buyback centres, who sell them to larger buyers. The recyclables are resold for export or as inputs for production.
South Africa’s 60000 to 90000 reclaimers collect 80% to 90% of used packaging and paper, providing crucial inputs for production and saving municipalities up to R750 million a year in potential landfill costs.
Despite their significant contributions, reclaimers earn a pittance.
Since the country went on lockdown at midnight on March 26, reclaimers have been locked out of landfills and cannot work in the streets. They have been excluded from government support.
Government policies on waste and recycling do not meaningfully include reclaimers. This has enabled municipalities to ignore the separation outside source system and implement recycling programmes that dispossess reclaimers. The exclusion continues through the government’s responses to Covid-19. Waste management was declared an essential service, allowing workers in this sector to keep working. Not so reclaimers.
There are no public service announcements on how to dispose of the products to minimise risks for reclaimers. The burden has fallen on reclaimers. According to information gathered by the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers, reclaimers in many countries have been affected in similar ways by government responses to Covid-19 that ignore them.
Reclaimers in South Africa are demanding inclusion in the R500m government fund to cushion small businesses from the ravages of the virus. The South African Waste Pickers Association and the African Reclaimers Organisation want a declaration that they are essential service providers, a simple process to obtain permits, and protective equipment.
The reclaimers’ demands are in line with the “Guideline on Waste Picker Integration for South Africa”, which was agreed by all stakeholders.
It is crucial that the government designate reclaimers as essential service providers without delay, and give them masks, gloves, protective gear, sanitisers and access to health care.
They need access to public spaces and buildings to store their materials, as well as trucks to transport them. Reclaimers need public washing stations, food packages, rapid testing and income support needed by millions of other South Africans.
Many livelihoods are at risk. Resources must be made available to fund reclaimers, along with other essential activities, vulnerable workers and the unemployed.