See the Experts at Turning Trash into Treasure in South Africa – They’re Called ‘the Reclaimers’

In South Africa, there’s a recycling-friendly group that’s making a living for themselves off gathering and reusing waste in creative ways. They’re known as ‘the Reclaimers’.

Every morning, before 4:30 am, these reclaimers head out and examine the waste at the front road. Before the garbage trucks have a chance to collect the waste, workers in this group go digging for anything they can reuse. Empty drink containers, old cooking instruments, and even white paper. In Johannesburg, there are more than 9,000 people doing this, collecting and eventually selling these materials and others.

The reclaimers of South Africa are an important part of the country’s economy, which is underdeveloped in comparison with waste management and recycling in countries like Canada. Estimates suggest that reclaimers collect and recycle 90% of the country’s post-consumer packaging and paper. In doing this, they save local municipal governments roughly CAD $53 million a year.

The average person doing this collect up to 200 kg of waste a day. Considering there are some 9,000 people doing this, this equates to roughly 2 million tons of products that never have to go into a landfill and which are recycled in some way.

What’s perhaps even more surprising is that this isn’t a very organized group. Reclaimers exist across the region, loosely tied together only in the activity they do. The popularity of waste reclaiming and recycling exists in other countries and seems to be spreading. Though minimal, Canada even has some who will take waste at the road and turn it into something beautiful, recycled and restored. Almost every Canadian city has reclaimers, though it’s usually a practice reserved for developing nations.

What groups like these show us is that there’s opportunity to do something. Even in nations like South Africa which may not have the same resources to recycle and reuse as Canada or the United States, there are people making the most of the available waste and re-selling it to find income. Could a similar movement happen in Canada – well, it is.

As waste disposal services in Toronto will tell you, there’s always a range of stuff at the road. Clothing, couches, appliances, technology, tables, chairs, mattresses, and all sorts of stuff. Imagine if the city could properly recycle each and every item, maximizing its lifespan and deriving wealth from it – this is an opportunity. If the city won’t do it, who better than the people – the waste is waiting.

For those who know what to do with it, there’s a lot of discarded items that can be redone, recycled, and reused in some way. The reclaimers of South Africa are a major inspiration for everyday people. The world looks at what’s at the road and they see garbage. A truck comes along, collects, and off to the landfill it goes. The reclaimers see opportunity when they look at the same heaps of trash bags, waste, and furniture that simply doesn’t have the space in which to exist.

We fully support the efforts of this amazing growing group of trash collectors and treasure makers from across the Atlantic. This just goes to show that what we throw out still has potential. It’s anything but useless. So we ask, do you think it time for Canada to have its own reclaimers movement hit the mainstream – it might be.