Eleven informal waste recyclers from Cape Town received their very own Waste Trikes from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning today, marking the completion of an innovative new project that seeks to better capacitate these entrepreneurs.

 The Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell handed over the big trikes to the eleven individuals.

“The eleven recyclers have also been provided with training in bicycle maintenance, waste collection and basic first aid. The bikes and the support training will be sure to help them more forward and make a better living for themselves.” 

 Bredell said that the recyclers are all entrepreneurs delivering a critical service to the community at large. 

“Recycling saves natural resources and reduces pollution. The motto Reduce, Reuse, Recycle must become part of everyone’s daily life. I hope that this project will be the beginning of better opportunities for each of these eleven individuals.”

 Karen Shippey, Chief Director for Environmental Sustainability at the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning says the project came about as a way to help the recycling collectors achieve more.

“Recycling collectors who often rely on rudimentary collection vehicles including shopping trolleys, are often not able to carry enough material to the recycling depots per trip. The solution it seemed was to help them get access to vehicles which can carry significantly more recyclables and therefore help them to earn more for each trip.”

The project was developed by Director of Sustainability, Ronald Mukanya. 

He came up with the idea to: 

• Build waste trikes and
• Train the people who would use them how to fix them if they broke,
• How to keep themselves safe when collecting and
• Giving them a start for building a better living from recycling

“I am especially proud that those standing here today are young and old, men and women,” Shippey said.

The project forms part of the Good Green Deeds Campaign, a campaign run by the National Department of Environmental Affairs in collaboration with The Presidency. This initiative seeks to mobilize all sectors of South Africa to become more environmentally conscious. The campaign is aimed at behaviour change and there is a special focus on promoting sustainable waste management practices such as recycling.