TSAKANE WASTE-PRENEUR PROJECT
Residents of Tsakane, near Springs in Ekurhuleni, collect glass bottles and other recyclables including newspapers, magazines, cardboard, paper, mixed plastics, cans, PET, polystyrene, Tetrapak, and aluminium, to earn a living or supplement their income. These community members are Wastepreneurs.
The Waste-preneur project is a WILDLANDS pro-poor development and sustainability intervention. The project is supported by the Department of Environmental Affairs’ Green Fund which is implemented by the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
The project has been expanded to Gauteng, where it is being piloted in, among others, in Ekurhuleni.
The Tsakane Waste-preneur projects employs 390 members of the local community, who have also started collecting foil paper, such as chip packets and sweet wrappers, as they contribute to keeping their town clean.
The Green Fund has invested more than R62.5 million in the Wildlands Conservation Trust to expand the Waste-preveur project to enable the economic transformation of 21 communities, through the establishment of over 4 400 Waste-preneurs that have collected and bartered over 13 200 tons of recycling in the past 4 years.
Besides showing that it is possible to collect and process recyclable waste as a means of supporting their families, the project has contributed significantly to the clean-up of the participating communities, many of them among the poorest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The Waste-preneur network has been expanded from 529 in January 2013 to 6 656 in December 2014.
In addition, 92 schools and 15 charities have been recruited and 60 Waste-preneur “sorters” have been contracted.
What is the environmental and Socio-economic impact?
A total of 16 518 779kg of recycling was collected during 2014. This avoided carbon emissions of 13 089 tCO2e. More than 60 percent of the waste collected was glass.
An amount of R8 223 557 has been paid in wages to the recycling team, providing livelihood support for an extended network of over 350 community members between January 2013 and 31 December 2014.
A total amount of R7 786 160 was paid or bartered for the recycling collected by the Wastepreneurs, schools and charities, providing livelihood support for an extended network of over 20 000 community members between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2014.
In addition, 5 679 person days of training for the recycyling team and Waste-preneurs took place between 1 April 2013 and 31 December 2014, significantly improving the skills, knowledge and ability of community members and leaders to be productive.
The training has included Adult Basic Education and Training literacy and numeracy, training in sustainable agriculture and business, recycling skills, health and safety, personal health and well-being and leadership and citizenship.