Bulawayo residents embrace recycling of litter

RESIDENTS from Bulawayo have embraced recycling as a source of livelihood as they collect litter which they sell to recycling companies.

Some of them collect their recycling material from the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) landfill site popularly known as Ngozi Mine in Richmond suburb while others move from house to house collecting recyclable litter.

They sell some of their material to manufacturing companies in Bulawayo or Harare.

Empty cans, plastic containers among others are on their list.

Mrs Siphathisiwe Nkomo from Cowdray Park suburb went into that business in 2005. She used to wake up as early as 4AM moving around the suburb. Mrs Nkomo said she now buys most of her recycling material from people that collect it and then resells to recycling companies.

In the process Mrs Nkomo has also started a pot selling business. She said she collects empty beverage and beer cans which she gives to people that manufacture three-legged pots. She said she then sells the pots or hires them out.

The Chronicle news crew visited her at her home where she has a heap of all kinds of materials.

Mrs Nkomo said she collects empty cans, lunch boxes, buckets, detergent containers, plastic chairs, thick plastic papers, empty milk bottles, empty plastic beverages bottles, empty lotion containers among other plastic containers.

She said these are then graded according to their classification. Mrs Nkomo said she has managed to get decent income through collecting litter.

“When I started collecting litter for recycling six years back people thought I was crazy. I used to wake up as early as 4AM and move around collecting. Now I mostly buy from other people who go out to collect and I store it at my house,” she said.

“I sell some to recycling companies. As for aluminium litter like empty cans, I give it to people that produce three-legged pots. I first crush the cans, weigh them and pack them into bags before giving them to those who make the pots. The person will then take some of the cans for their payment. I sell some of the pots while I keep others and hire them out to people.”

She said some people approach her and place orders for pots. Mrs Siphathisiwe Nkomo with one of pots made from recycled cans Mrs Nkomo said she recently sold 120kg of empty cans in Botswana and got 2 000 pula.

She said she usually gets more money through selling her material in Harare but transporting it there was costly. Mr Itai Mugonde who operates from Ngozi Mine said there were recycling materials that include water buckets, lids, plastic hair, plastic chairs, lunch boxes and plastic bottles.

Mr Mugonde said hundreds of people flock to the landfill site to collect litter which can be recycled. He said together with his counterparts they buy the material from people who collect it and they sell it to recycling companies. They sell plastic papers to recycling companies in Harare.

The news crew also visited Ngozi Mine where they found scores of people camped there with heaps of recycling material waiting for it to be collected by recycling companies. Mr Mugonde said each morning they leave their homes and head to Ngozi Mine where they buy the material then spend the day processing and packing it.

“There are people who collect this litter after it has been left at the dumpsite. They come with it and we weigh it in their presence and we pay them. Once we get the recycling material, we clean it and sort it out. The plastic papers will be dirty so we wash them and dry them before we pack them. We don’t have buyers for plastic papers locally so we sell
them in Harare. For other recycling material we have to remove metal objects and send it,” he said.

Mr Mugonde said they were some recycling material which they first send to Kevin Industrial Site to be crushed and then they pack and sell it as small pellets. He said they thoroughly clean the containers first and then sort it according to colours before it is crushed.

Bulawayo residents embr esidents embrace recycling of litter cling of litter Mr Mugonde said the process of cleaning the containers and plastics requires a lot of labour and time.

“A challenge we face is that when we buy these plastic bags and containers they will be dirty so the weight we pay for includes the dirt,” he said.

Mr Vanessa Masimarry said the recycling material which they collect is used to make a wide range of products. He said broken items they collect are recycled to make new ones. Mr Masimarry said he was able to fend for his family using money that he gets from selling recycling material.

Ms Janet Dube who also operates from Ngozi Mine said they are being forced to take their plastic bags to Harare where there are buyers.

She said it was costly to transport their plastic to Harare hence they are calling on the Harare companies to open buying centres in Bulawayo. Bulawayo residents embr esidents embrace recycling of litter cling of litter She said they also needed machinery to crush the material themselves instead of relying on factories as that was an extra cost. — The Chronicle ‘