Betty Moleya
Pretoria - Waste pickers are said to play a vital role in the environment, but that is not the case for the former Mushroomville waste pickers who were moved to Sutherland Ridge from their spot next to SuperSport Park in Centurion last December.
The removal of the waste pickers came after Turnover Trading 191 Proprietary Ltd, which owns the land they previously operated from, said it had plans to build a hotel there.
The community said they are grateful for a safe place to sleep, but they are faced with hunger because they are not working.
Part of the removal agreement was that the waste pickers are not allowed to conduct any business at the new site.
Mushroomville had an estimated 190 people living on the premises, women and children included.
Adronicca Makwa, who has been a resident at Mushroomville since 2014, said her only source of income was the recycling business and her trolley has also been taken.
“I am an old woman … here at the new site we are not able to make a living for ourselves.
“Back at Mushroomville I used to make money that I could send to my family in Hammanskraal.
“There was also wood that we could use to make fire. Here there is no wood or electricity,” said Makwa.
They said they were asking the municipality for a new space where they would be able to conduct their recycling business.
Mohlomi Molekoa, also a former resident at the waste picking site, said they understood that they made a mess when conducting waste picking and doing the recycling business.
“If given a new space to do our business, we will make sure that it remains clean. We are doing recycling to feed our families; they depend on us,” Molekoa said.
“Now we do not have any income; it is very hard for us just to sit here and do nothing,” she added.
The community has women who are breastfeeding and who are worried about how they will be able to do that if they have nothing to eat and cannot work in order to buy food.
Despite having challenges at the new site, they are, however, grateful for the drinking water that is delivered to them on a daily basis.
They said they were a far cry from the notion that waste pickers played a vital role in keeping the environment clean and pollution free, because they are still not recognised the way they should.
The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa said waste pickers deserved recognition for their environmental contribution.
Waste pickers are defined as people who collect reusable and recyclable materials from various sites in order to sell them.
Reusable materials can be paper, plastic or metal.
Materials that are reusable but are carelessly disposed of contribute to water pollution, air pollution and land pollution.
According to the CSIR, it is estimated that in South Africa, waste pickers recycle 80% to 90% of plastic and packaging in South Africa, saving authorities up to R750 million in landfill costs.
Pretoria News