A local and national government initiative is using the circular economy model to slowly transform under-resourced communities in Cape Town, where illegal dumping and waste build-up is a perpetual problem, and change the relationship children and residents have with waste. 

Called the iThemba Phakama 4Ps (People, Public, Private, Partnership) project, it incentivises learners from no-fee schools to donate waste collected from their households and local communities to their schools, where it establishes recycling hubs that then sort and sell the mismanaged unrecyclable or difficult-to-recycle plastic waste to organisations.

Waste collectors from these communities are also employed by the project to gather waste from the streets, households and businesses in the area.

Keanan Reis, director of the Centre for Regenerative Design and Collaboration. The organisation is another cog that makes the Ithemba Phakama 4Ps project work by supporting it through its Bag That Builds initiative, in which they assign a rand value to every bag of plastic waste collected. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

Waste organisations, such as the Centre for Regenerative Design and Collaboration (CRDC), has come on board to support the programme. The CRDC’s Bag That Builds initiative assigns a rand value to every 1kg bag of plastic waste (the bag can contain mixed, dirty plastics of any type)  collected. This money goes back to the no-fee schools as an additional source of income that can be used for upgrades, food or whatever the school requires.

But what does CRDC do with this waste and why is it eager to pay for it? The waste organisation provides an end-of-life solution for all plastic waste, by using an innovative technology to turn vast quantities of non-recyclable plastic waste into RESIN8, an eco-aggregate. RESIN8 can be used in the manufacture of concrete for the building and construction sector – sometimes the materials even go back into buildings at the schools providing waste.

The Centre for Regenerative Design and Collaboration provides an end-of-life solution for all plastic waste, by using an innovative technology which takes non-recyclable waste plastic and turns it into RESIN8, an eco-aggregate. RESIN8 is used to make concrete, which can then reused for building materials. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

The iThemba Phakama 4Ps project – an initiative of the Western Cape departments of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and Development Planning (DP) and the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment – is now expanding and partnering with more schools in under-resourced communities.

The project piloted its circular economy model at Webner Street Primary School – a government no-fee school in Ravensmead, Cape Town. The model has since been replicated at more schools in Mitchells Plain, Athlone and Langa.

Birth of an idea

Ron Mukanya, the director of sustainability at the DEA and DP, was inspired by an article on News24 about 500 fed-up residents who had signed an online petition demanding proper fencing for the school’s sports field that had been vandalised and complaining about the growing amount of waste on the field, which was degrading the neighbourhood. 

In the middle of Webner Street Primary School is a food garden that is fully funded by the school recycling initiative. The garden is used to provide vegetables for the school’s feeding scheme. Gardener John Makwanda tends to the garden throughout the week. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

Mukanya decided to use the school as a case study for the DEA and DP and turn it into a local community-based recycling hub. The school underwent a dramatic transformation to become the successful recycling hub it is today. Using the funds it made from recycling, the school established a school-based food garden that uses composted organic waste from the school’s soup kitchen to grow vegetables, which has enabled the school to feed an additional 100 pupils.

Ashley Damons, project manager of Ithemba Phakama 4Ps, said: “When the project started at Webner Street Primary, everyone was a little sceptical since the conditions at the school had not changed in years. But as we started, the department cleaned up and fenced the field. We did a massive clean-up to involve the community. All through this, the most prepared to contribute were the learners. It is amazing how fast they picked up the concepts of separation at source and recycling,” 

Ashley Damons, project manager of the Ithemba Phakama 4PS initiative. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

Damons said the recycling centre at Webner was perhaps the only truly circular economy case study that had shown real results in the region. The team there also won Service Excellence awards from the Western Cape government this year. 

Mukanya said: “Recycling isn’t easily accessible and having the convenience of dropping off your recyclables at a local school or hub within the community makes it convenient to recycle. Like many coastal areas, particularly in developing economies, the Western Cape currently faces challenges related to solid waste, including single-use plastic.” 

(Image: Supplied)

He said levels of illegal dumping were unacceptably high and that many informal and low-income communities still did not dispose of single plastic responsibly.

“As a result, significant volumes of plastic waste find their way into our waterways, from where this waste flows into the ocean and impacts the fishing industry and tourism, which are the biggest income earners in our province. The plastic waste also provides breeding grounds for waterborne diseases that impact the most vulnerable communities,” he said.

This model in one way or another addresses all these issues while providing job opportunities for waste collectors in these areas.

Meeting of minds

Kyle Dewar, spokesperson for Polyco, one of the organisations involved in the project, said that when a community understood the value of recycling, there was a meeting of minds on how to recycle and separate waste at source, so that it could be collected and sold to recyclers further along the value chain. 

The Webner Street Primary School recycling area in Ravensmead, Cape Town. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

“This benefits these communities from a socioeconomic perspective as well as having a positive environmental impact. We see these communities getting involved as they now know they can create income-earning opportunities while educating and cleaning the environment and their neighbourhoods – that’s the sweet spot we wish to achieve. This in turn negates the need for illegal dumping zones and builds up communities,” Dewar said.

Keanan Reis, director of the CRDC in South Africa, said the organisation also assists the project with additional sorting and transport costs where necessary. He said that it collected transaction data at each hub, which, after a few months, would show how many bags were brought into each hub and the revenue paid to collectors. The data is crucial in terms of reporting to the CRDC’s current and future sponsors.

A data sheet from Kudoti Recycling Platform. (Image: Supplied)

Reis said CRDC’s Bag That Builds initiative works on a sponsorship model. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste is one of CRDC’s partners both locally and globally, sponsoring the first 12 months of the initiative. DM

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