Zelda lives in a middle class suburb outside Pretoria. “For those of us who want to separate our waste and put out different bags, the garbage collectors don’t care – they just put everything into the garbage truck. So, I don’t know where to begin even.”
Even in Zelda’s well-off suburb, there is no real facility for willing residents to recycle:
“I tried to recycle, but there was no real facility. I tried really hard to separate my waste and ensure the paper was not wet. We use our plastic over and over again and we compost our green waste. But even educated people are not educated enough about recycling. People don’t know about separating your waste at source. So, the challenge is to educate people about waste management because people don’t understand what they are doing to the environment. We all have challenges with regards to waste, and people who really put in an effort to recycle and reduce do it for a while and then give up!”
Zelda also points out that middle class residents have large amounts of e-waste which they do not know what to do with, and there are few facilities through which to recycle these items.
