Itumeleng Phiri, the woman behind Itumeleng Future Solutions, started recycling as a part-time project in 2012 to clear the large volumes of waste dumped at the field across from her home in Tembisa. Two years later, she left her full-time job to build a business collecting recyclable waste. In 2019, her business had grown to the point where she started buying waste from other reclaimers.
Itumeleng is one of hundreds of waste reclaimers who are making a significant contribution to the country’s battle against over-filled landfills. Mpact recognises their crucial and central role in the recycling process and circular economy. In 2020, Mpact Recycling partnered with Itumeleng, to help her to grow her business, engaging with the local municipality on her behalf to secure use of the land across from her home to establish a buy-back centre.
Itumeleng Future Solutions now collects between 300kg and 500kg of recyclable waste over weekends to resell. In a good month, with collections and what she buys from other reclaimers, Itumeleng’s income from the project averages from R8 000 to R10 000. She recalls that before the Covid-19 pandemic, her average delivery per month included approximately five tonnes of cardboard, five tonnes of glass and two tonnes of plastic. In 2020, she started a food garden on a portion of the field where she currently employs eight people and grows spinach, cabbage and morogo.
Since there are no other recyclers nearby, there is the potential for the project to recruit as many as 30 new sellers from the area to bring recyclables and sell them at her buy-back centre. As her business expands further, Itumeleng is likely to start dealing with other recycling bodies such as the Glass Recycling Association and the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa. With more equipment such as recycling bins and trolleys, her buy‑back centre will yield more volume and bring more income to her community at large.
In addition to its own operations in major centres around South Africa, Mpact Recycling has buy-back centres, where traders deliver waste paper for payment. It also buys additional material from more than 90 independent dealers throughout the country. Over 40 entrepreneurial companies have been empowered to facilitate its collection strategies, primarily involving independent collectors who collect recovered paper.
Mpact Recycling supports local recycling entrepreneurs to succeed and grow by providing support including providing and installing equipment such as scales and paper balers at its buy-back centres. These machines compress waste paper into cubes or bales, which helps the buy-back centre owners to increase the volumes they are able to process and to reduce processing time. The technology also allows the centres to process and store more waste paper, effectively increasing the volume of their sales to Mpact Recycling.
