Durban - Jogger Bevlen Sudhu put his entrepreneurial instincts into action to help solve a litter problem he was confronted by – the sight of bottles strewn all over the road.
“I decided to commercialise this problem,” he said in Sort, a new video series presented by actress Lindiwe Dim and made possible by the producer responsibility organisation, Petco, about waste recycling in a circular economy throughout South Africa.
Sudhu’s company, Re-Purpose, was born and it features as the eighth of nine two-to-three-minute clips as a mountain of plastic bottles at his depot near Pinetown. Re-Purpose processes 10 tons of plastic refuse which is subject to quality control, separation and compacting before it is passed on to a producer, who turns it into a raw material.
He explained how he was part of a circular economy.
”(In) the value chain, we have a collector in the community, a waste reclaimer who we work with and empower. They bring the recyclables through to us.”
His role does not end with the quality control, separating and compacting.
“We work with manufacturers (who they pass the processed junk to) to ensure that a new bottle is produced and then put back on the shelves.”
There’s something circular about Petco’s series, directed by veteran actor-director Louw Venter, on the circular economy around waste. It starts in KZN, travels the country visiting operations from Mpumalanga to North West, Gauteng to the Western Cape, before coming full circle and finishing in KZN.
In Ladysmith, husband and wife team Razia and Aslam Patel have energised the community with their recycling education and awareness drives which include local government, schools and residents.
Their recycling business, Why Waste, employs 65 people, provides a revenue stream to a network of 250 waste pickers and collects more than 7 000 tons of recyclables annually – providing value to recyclables by keeping them out of landfills and in circulation.
This year, Why Waste received the Petco Environmental and Education Awareness Initiative award for its work in the sector.
“A lot of people in the community didn’t know that we, as a recycling depot, are diverting this much waste from landfill,” Razia told Dim in the series.
She also heads many of the education drives at local schools.
“It starts with the kids. The idea is for (them) to go home and influence their parents to change their behaviours around waste management.”
Between the episodes shot in Ladysmith and Pinetown, the message comes through that waste is a resource through which poor people can uplift themselves.
“Every guy that comes in here with a bottle, a piece of paper, I know that’s (the source of) their food for the day,” said Cindy Foord, the founder of Matlosana Recycling in Klerksdorp.
“We must make people aware that they can get paid for recyclable material. The thing is many people don’t know that it’s worth something.”
Shaun Styger, the managing-director of CL Trading in Stellenbosch, recognises the important role people play in spite of prejudices they face.
“When people see these guys, they just want to run away. They think of them as thieves, as people making rubbish. (Yet), they are the ones picking up the pieces, the paper.”
He encourages their children to do well at school by offering them rewards for good reports.
“The kids will come showing their (good) marks from school, and we’ll reward them (with some money) for it. That means something to them and gives them inspiration to go further at school.”
Another message frequently repeated is that consumers can play their part by separating their waste before putting it out for collection.
Lydia Anderson-Jardine of Waste Want in Phillipi on the Cape Flats takes it a step further.
“We also need to understand that if legislation is put in place and implemented, and monitored, it will have a better effect.”
The series can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCmhAJoCP8g&list=PLKYPzMp5FaeTbQ3UlHV8s4gT7GJD0_ynH&index=1.
The Independent on Saturday