Unilever South Africa, and the African Reclaimer Organisation (ARO) in partnership with The University of Witwatersrand (WITS) have announced their upcoming pilot project: 'Building an inclusive circular economy: recycling with reclaimers.'
The Johannesburg-based pilot will formally integrate reclaimers - also known as waste pickers - and demonstrate the benefits reclaimers provide with their separation-at-source services.
An unemployed man working as an informal recycler pulls a cart loaded with recyclable materials in Johannesburg. EPA/JON HRUSA.
For the announcement, the partners, together with ARO members hosted a thought leadership event in Johannesburg that explored the impact reclaimer integration could have on South Africa's 'circular economy'; a restorative and regenerative model where materials constantly flow around a 'closed loop' system, rather than being used once and then discarded.
The panelists included in the thought leadership event:
- Dumisani Buthelezi, Director of General Waste from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA)
- Mvuselelo Mathebula, Deputy Director: Waste Policy and Programs, Environment Infrastructure and Services Department, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan (COJ)
- Shabeer Jhetam, Executive Director of Packaging SA
- Luyanda Hlatshwayo, Organising Committee Member from African Reclaimer Organisation (ARO)
- Eli Kodisang, Organiser from Women in Informal Employment, Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)
- Dr. Melanie Samson, Senior Lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand
- Lethepu Mashaba, Vice President Home Care, Unilever
The panellists reviewed the industry wins and also discussed a major gap within the South African circular economy; the need to recognise, support and value the 60 000 – 90 000 informal reclaimers who sift through waste to salvage the recyclable materials that many throw away. These reclaimers earn their livelihood by collecting and selling recyclable material to recycling companies. They collect approximately 80-90% of postconsumer paper and packaging collected in South Africa for recycling companies to reuse and have extended the life of landfills and saved municipalities up to R750 million a year in landfill airspace.
University of Witwatersrand academic, Dr. Melanie Samson said, "Reclaimers are already central to the recycling economy. Integration isn't about bringing them in; rather it is about integrating reclaimers into our understanding of the recycling economy."
The core aim of the pilot project, which is due to launch in September 2019, is to work closely with reclaimers and residents in the Brixton and Auckland Park communities to increase collection rates of recyclable material from households and offices, improve the livelihoods for the reclaimers through recognition and compensation for their collection work, as well as overall community behaviour change on waste management and perceptions of reclaimers.
Rationale for the collaboration
Due to the great focus that has been placed on recycling by our government, industry, and conscious consumers, recycling rates across South Africa are on the rise. According to the latest statistics released by the national industry body PET Recycling Company (PETCO), 98 649 tonnes of post-consumer PET plastic bottles were recycled in 2018 alone - a 6% increase from 2017 - saving 612 000 cubic metres of landfill space and lessening the country's carbon emissions footprint by 148 000 tonnes.
The same body said an average of 6.2 million PET plastic bottles were collected for recycling across South Africa every day last year, creating 68 000 income-generating opportunities for small and micro-collectors.
Luyanda Hlatshwayo, reclaimer and organising committee member from ARO, said, "Reclaimers work long hours in tough conditions to collect recyclables. But we receive only a small income from the sale of the materials we collect. We believe that if reclaimers are recognised and compensated for our collection work, and if households' separate recyclables from their waste, we will together achieve higher collection rates of recyclable material as well as improved livelihoods for reclaimers. We hope this project will be the start of a leap forward for reclaimers."
Unilever partnership
Unilever has partnered on this pilot as they believe in the long-term opportunities for building a more inclusive circular economy. Luc-Olivier Marquet, executive vice president of Unilever South Africa said, "The backing and funding of this pilot project forms part of Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) that has ambitions to reduce the company's environmental impact by 50% by 2030 across various areas including Greenhouse gases, water use, waste & packaging as well as sustainable sourcing." He added, "Unilever has committed to 100% reduction in our single use plastic packaging by 2025, with our flagship brand, Sunlight Dishwashing Liquid, leading the way for this ambition having recently launched their 100% recycled and recyclable bottles."
In addition to funding the reclaimer service fees, Unilever and Sunlight will be focused on supporting the reclaimers and ARO in the ongoing need to educate and encourage the pilot project communities to play their part in sustainability practices and to support the project.
