On the frontline of the fight against climate change

Support for our ‘invisible entrepreneurs’ – waste reclaimers – starts at home

South Africa’s waste reclaimers are a critical part of urban waste management and an integral part of the society they operate in; these are the workers on the frontlines of the fight against climate change. People who want to make a difference this Earth Day can start by supporting their community waste pickers; individuals who live the vision of making every day Earth Day and contribute to the environmental health and human wellbeing in their areas of operation.

The sight of plastic and paper-stacked trolleys being pushed through tree-lined streets on municipal waste collection days is a common sight in most suburban South

African neighbourhoods. Waste pickers, or waste reclaimers, have played a large part in the achievement of the country’s waste management, recycling and sustainability goals, while remaining largely unappreciated, uncredited and unpaid for their contributions.

Luyanda Hlatshwayo is a founding member of the African Reclaimers Organisation, which helps waste pickers in Gauteng pool their resources to increase productivity and yield: “We are environmental agents; we are the backbone of the recycling economy. Without reclaimers, most of the landfills would be closed by now.”

Experts agree. According to Melanie Samson, a senior lecturer of Human Geography at Wits

University, South Africa generates 59-million tonnes of general waste annually. Yet, despite the fact that only 10.8% of households separate their waste and most recyclable material gets chucked out with the trash, South Africa has recycling rates comparable to some European countries.

This, she says, is in large part thanks to waste reclaimers, who sift through mixed household waste from landfill sites or rubbish bins on the street and drive the country’s informal recycling sector: “South Africa’s 60 000 to 90 000 reclaimers collect an astonishing 80% to 90% of used packaging and paper that is recycled, providing crucial inputs for production and saving municipalities up to R750-million a year in potential landfill costs.”

These reclaimers do not earn a salary; they earn on average around R70 per day when they sell the recyclable materials they have collected to small buyback centres, who then resell the materials to larger buyers.

The Global Alliance of Waste Pickers describes waste pickers as “invisible entrepreneurs on the frontline of the fight against climate change”. Recycling is one of the cheapest and fastest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; according to the organisation, avoiding one tonne of CO2 emissions through recycling costs 30% less than doing so through energy efficiency, and 90% less than wind power.