They collect up to 80% of recycled packaging, yet remain invisible to policy, unpaid, and unprotected. 

Regenize doesn’t just recycle, its REACT solution digitalises and formalises reclaimers’ work, obliterating generations of exploitation with fair pay, Personal Protective Equipment  (PPE) and giving dignity to their role. 

According to Chad Robertson, Regenize co-Founder & CEO, there are an estimated 60,000–90,000 waste pickers in South Africa who collect as much as 80% of the country’s recycled paper and packaging.

“Yet they operate in dangerous, unregulated conditions, sorting waste by hand, moving through landfill sites and city streets with no guarantee of income or social protection.” 

He stresses that municipal or private recycling systems rarely interact meaningfully with this workforce. “Without proper infrastructure, access to clean recyclables, transport, PPE, or formal recognition, they remain uncompensated essential workers in a broken supply chain.” 

Each decentralised recycling hub created by REACT provides reclaimers with access to clean recyclables from at least 1200 households, increase income by up to 300% , uniforms, PPE, tablets for tracking, and formal integration into the recycling process – turning them into formally employed partners and can enjoy the basic labour rights we all enjoy in South Africa. 

Households earn Remali points after each recycling collection. These points are credited instantly and can be converted into tangible resources either online or through our network of shops in our operational community. 

Within the next 12 months, REACT will be setting up another 31 decentralised recycling hubs taking them to 36 in total in the Cape Town region.

These hubs will provide their free recycling collection service to 43 200 households, create 180 jobs for waste reclaimers while diverting around 5500 tonnes annually. 

“If South Africa wants credible recycling, it must honour – and compensate – its waste reclaimers. Regenize’s REACT rewrites the narrative: reclaimers are not charity cases – they are frontline agents of sustainability. And when recycling becomes fair, participation and impact follow,” he concludes. 

This, according to the government, is part of efforts to address the numerous challenges faced by the Waste Pickers while performing their duties.

Malam Balarabe Lawal, the minister of Environment, stated this at a meeting on the National Digital Repository for Waste Pickers workshop, in Abuja.

“We cannot discuss sustainable waste management without referencing the operations of waste pickers, who form an integral part of the waste management value chain.

“Waste pickers exist as unsung heroes, but the truth is that they provide essential services that ensure the protection of our environment and public health,” Lawal said.

The meeting was a collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Environment, International Labour Organization (ILO), and Tearfund Nigeria.

Lawal stated that waste pickers, popularly known as “Baban Bolla,” are the backbone of waste recovery, contributing significantly to recycling and the circular economy.

“They form an informal group whose activities encompass all aspects of waste management, from collection, sorting, transportation, processing, and selling of recovered and recyclable materials to earn a living.”

He added that the integration of waste pickers would unlock the immense economic potential using them as reliable foot soldiers.

On his part, Vanessa Phala-Moyo, country director, International Labour Organization for Nigeria, said that a concerted effort was required to ensure that waste streams were effectively controlled using sound waste management practices.

Phala-Moyo noted that, when managed well, waste offered opportunities for creation of jobs in the circular economy and also contributed to strengthening the resilience of local economies.

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(Source: ThisDayLive. Image)