Empowering waste pickers

Sifiso Gumbi, a former waste picker and finalist for the 2024 Young Environmentalist of the Year at the South African Youth Awards, is transforming the city’s recycling landscape. 

Through sustainable initiatives, he is empowering informal waste reclaimers, giving them dignity, a sense of belonging, and sustainable income.

These initiatives include waste management, equipping waste pickers with essential gear such as personal protective equipment (PPE), and providing training and support.

“We are trying to restore the dignity of waste pickers by giving them PPE and trolleys so they are presentable to the public and are seen as people who are on the job like any other person.

“Our core mission is to support the efforts of the informal waste reclaimers…They are the main volume drivers and we took it upon ourselves to support their efforts by trying to formalise the informal space,” Gumbi said.

In 2019, Gumbi established Urban Surfer to provide support to reclaimers and their families. The waste pickers collect paper, aluminium cans and plastic. In some instances, they collect steel waste and glass. 

He explained that Urban Surfer has been approached by the private sector and communities.

“The Parktown community in Johannesburg and Hollard approached us. They wanted a solution to support the waste reclaimers. We proposed a concept of integrating the waste pickers in that area and formalising the space that they were working in,” he said.

As a result, eight waste pickers in Johannesburg are benefiting from a recycling hub that was established for them to work. 

“We try to connect waste pickers to the best prices on the market. Every Thursday, we get a trailer and we load the waste and they sell to the neighbouring buy-back centres. When we started last year in May, the reclaimers were making up to R 2500 and now they can make up to R 8500,” Gumbi said.

He added that he is also part of another initiative named Zero Cost Corporate Waste Solution project, the organisation approaches corporates and requests access to their recyclable waste. This allows the waste pickers to collect the recyclable waste from corporate parks, shopping centres and warehouses.

“We have another site in Tembisa where we work with 12 women who are sorting, storing and processing their waste. We also buy the waste from the community as well,” he said.

The organisation has thus far supported about 450 waste reclaimers and are expecting to support an additional 200 this year working with their sponsors.

“No one wants to deal with waste. There is a stigma around the occupation and I was subjected to the same stigma. I want to share the message that you can survive through waste. It’s an occupation like any other. It just needs the necessary support,” he concluded.

 Did you know?

The South African Youth Awards are facilitated by the National Youth Development Agency and seek to honour young South Africans who are making a positive impact.

For more information about Urban Surfer visit urbansurfer.co.za