Green Shoots: The revolution in your bin

Sunday lunch with the really interesting people in my life led me down a mini-research path and I investigated the circular economy. A circular economy is an economic model where the stuff we make and buy are kept in use for as long as possible. Instead of the traditional approach that is described as ‘take-make-dispose’, or quite simply the ‘throwaway’ culture that is so prevalent, this model focuses on repairing things that break so that they can be used again. Instead of throwing away the stuff we no longer need, we recycle it – send it to the people who know how to make new things from old stuff. We  minimise waste and resource extraction, we reduce damage to the environment, and we can promote sustainable development by keeping products and materials in circulation for longer. It’s common sense if we want to keep the Earth healthy enough to sustain future generations – and I’ve got a grandson to worry about.

It isn’t something that started yesterday. For centuries, indigenous cultures and knowledge systems in Africa and elsewhere lived in harmony with their surroundings, understanding and respecting the ecosystems that gave their societies life and sustenance. Respect for the environment and taking only that which you needed to survive was the basis of economic interaction. Today, it's about advertising telling you what you need – the latest cellphone, the newest car, those fine sneakers to go with the ten pairs in your closet. Don’t even talk about that food retailer we all know that has plastic wrapping on its produce to make sure you feel like you’re top brass when you do grocery shopping. The veggie store next door and the hawker on the pavement offer tomatoes and onions buck naked – not a plastic wrapper in sight. We are conditioned to consume and discard. This mass consumption, masquerading as economic development and progress, has alienated us from our tradition of care for our environment and created a massive waste management problem in Africa and in our own country. 

So we should recycle. It certainly isn’t the absolute and final answer to the problems of climate change and pollution – we still have to look at the fossil fuel sector, the mining sector for the stuff that makes our cellphones, and all the other industries that disturb our fragile ecosystems. But we’re not washing our hands of our own responsibility – we must do our bit. And we must support those who are doing more than we can. 

In the suburb I used to live in, I would fight with neighbours in the community WhatsApp group. The security guard was told to block waste pickers from rummaging through our garbage for recyclable materials. My neighbours would write that the looters were around, so lock up your rubbish. It is these ‘looters’ – waste pickers, reclaimers, recyclers – who salvage up to 90% of post-consumer paper and packaging collected in South Africa for recycling. They separate and extract recyclable materials disposed of as waste, and sell them into the value chain, directing so much stuff away from landfills and toward recyclers. We need to show them respect and acknowledge the benefit these hardworking individuals bring to the environment and the economy. It is backbreaking work and pays a pittance, but it is of such massive value to environmental protection.

South Africa has more than 90 000 waste pickers. The South African Waste Pickers Association has 4 000 to 6 000 registered members from all nine provinces of South Africa. Countries like Serbia, Brazil, Tunisia and the Philippines are increasingly looking at integrating waste pickers as part of official recycling systems.

So let's show a bit of love to these guys. Separate your refuse before you put it out for collection – a bag of paper and plastic and other items on the side of your bin. Friends of mine prepare a couple of sandwiches each week – it is hungry work. Importantly, treat these individuals with respect. They work hard, and they play an important role in our economy.

Let’s look more closely at the circular economy as one alternative to the overconsumption of our current system. Maybe if enough of us reject the advertising to buy and consume rubbish we don’t need, we may just save the planet and create a fairer world to live in.