Recycling centre to benefit residents

The Buffalo City Metropolitan Development Agency (BCMDA), in collaboration with the municipality and DNF Waste Management Services, held a sod-turning ceremony on September 16 to mark the launch of a recycling buy-back centre in Duncan Village.

The ceremony was held at the entrance to Duncan Village ward 2.

Once built, the centre will receive recyclable waste from residents in the surrounding area, which will be converted into secondary goods such as plastic slabs for furniture.

The centre will also house a glass cutting plant.

While the centre is being built, a temporary structure will be erected where community members can recycle their waste and receive some money or a voucher in return.

The funding for the centre and related initiatives has been supplied by National Treasury and contractors will begin construction early next year.

The original municipal waste buy-back centre in the city burned down five years ago and was not replaced.

Gcinuxolo Yawathe, infrastructure development officer for BCMDA, said this had delayed the potential for the creation of a waste wealth economy in the city.

“There are opportunities for waste to generate income and temporary jobs. Waste, when recycled, can feed into secondary industries as it can go to producing tombstones, granite tops, plastic planks and so forth.

“We can create a culture in secondary industries that emphasises bio-sustainable products.

“We want to encourage job creation in these secondary industries as well, not just concentrated jobs around the buy-back centre itself.”

While the centre is being constructed, BCMDA, the municipality and DNF waste management services will roll out various programmes to encourage domestic recycling in Duncan Village.

Yawathe said the initiatives followed a “spoke and hub model” in which households will sort their domestic waste into colour-coded recyclable and non-recyclable bags. The recyclable waste will be collected by teams of 15 municipal waste management employees and taken to a satellite area – shipping containers in the area’s wards.

Thereafter, it will be further sorted and delivered to the buy-back centre.

Municipal waste management staff were set to collect recyclable waste from households in Duncan Village on Tuesday September 20.

DNF waste management officer, Deidre Nxumalo-Freeman, said ward councillors, schools, churches and NGOs in the area could assist by teaching households how to recycle, given that once non-recyclable waste was mixed with recyclable waste, it became spoiled and the centre could not use it.

Duncan Village resident, Thembela Phonono, said she was excited about the buy-back centre and the household recycling initiatives.

“For our young people maybe this will be a way to give them work experience in a sector because we have serious issues such as drug abuse and crime here and if this centre can give our young people a chance to gain skills, this will help with more than just waste.”

 

OFFICIAL LAUNCH: Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and Buffalo City Metropolitan Development Agency representatives host a sod-turning ceremony at the entrance of Duncan Village ward 2 to mark the start of the second phase of development of waste management systems in the area. Below are municipal workers who have been trained to assist with recycling at the centre, which is to be built early next year. Pictures: TAMMY FRAY

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