Diepsloot is not only illustrative of the main systemic causes of littering and dumping (e.g. limited waste removal in informal areas, inadequate waste removal in formal areas, unreliable and distant municipal services, limited bins in public areas) but also demonstrates some promising solutions and innovations. An observation of the dumpsites around Diepsloot reveals that these dumps are also a kind of community resource, allowing some to gain a livelihood, while others find items they need which have been discarded by other people. As is the case across the country, Diepsloot has many waste reclaimers who travel between the various dumpsites looking for electronics, metal, tin, paper, cardboard, and certain recyclable kinds of plastic. These waste reclaimers make a living off the dumps, while other residents operate informal buy-back centres which buy recyclables off reclaimers and then transport these in bulk to formal buy-back centres every so often.
Driving plastic recycling through industry support
The South African Plastics Recycling Organisation (SAPRO) is the national association of plastic recycling companies with a mandate to grow the recycling rate for waste plastics. The core of SAPRO's efforts is to 1) improve the quality of materials entering the...
