A new material recovery facility (MRF) has opened on a private landfill site in Springs with stakeholders hoping it will help reduce pressure on Gauteng’s rapidly diminishing landfill space while creating jobs and boosting recycling efforts.

Situated on the Tonkmeter landfill site, the facility serves reclaimers, businesses and industries across the Ekurhuleni region.

Speaking at the launch, provincial waste management officer Palesa Mathibeli said Gauteng was facing a waste management crisis because municipal landfills were reaching the end of their lifespan and a number had been closed down due to non-compliance leading to an increase in illegal dumping.

“We are quickly running out of landfill airspace because we are not diverting waste away from them.

“So, it puts more pressure on facilities like this one. That is why we are very happy to see that our private partners are taking the initiative to support each other in addressing this crisis,” Mathibeli said.

The facility was made possible through a significant infrastructure investment by South Africa’s longest-standing producer responsibility organisation (PRO), Petco, with a supporting contribution from fellow PRO MetPac-SA.

Once fully operational it will be capable of diverting and processing up to 600 tonnes of recyclable material from the landfill every month.

Tonkmeter CEO Leon Grobbelaar said the landfill received roughly 5 000 tonnes of waste per month and that the aim was to extract at least 50 tonnes of that volume in combined recyclable packaging such as PET plastic, metals and liquid board cartons.

According to Grobbelaar, some waste collection businesses bring baled materials directly to the MRF where they are further separated and sorted before the remaining non-recyclable waste is taken to the on-site landfill.

Future plans include accepting materials from independent waste pickers working at the nearby Rietfontein municipal landfill site and bringing them into a centralised system.

“It’s a very satisfying industry because of job creation in our Kwa-Thema community and taking waste out of the environment,” Grobbelaar said.

Petco’s general manager for recycling and collections, Samu Mkhize, said the project was a great example of all players pulling together to keep the circular economy working.

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“Tonkmeter is not just another recycling project. It is a practical example of on-the-ground integration. It connects landfill diversion with recovery infrastructure. It integrates industrial, commercial and informal material streams into a single operating model.”

Mkhize said an additional benefit was the cashless payment platform that allowed Petco to pay waste pickers a service fee for the PET and liquid board packaging they collect, adding that these were the identified products for which Petco was responsible.

She said this was Petco’s largest single infrastructure investment to date, demonstrating the organisation’s commitment to investing in high-value capital infrastructure projects and equipment such as sorting conveyor systems, balers and forklifts.

“Moving forward, these are the kinds of large-scale projects we want to do on behalf of our members. Co-investment with partners like MetPac-SA allows us to unlock shared outcomes and show measurable progress against legislative expectations,” Mkhize said.

MetPac-SA CEO Kishan Singh said he was pleased at the opportunity to support a project such as this.

“This now increases the circular economy and waste recovery in South Africa, aligning with EPR regulations. MetPac-SA will continue to support such initiatives in this country in the spirit of saving this planet,” Singh commented.

Grobbelaar said the partnership showed what was possible when industry leaders took real responsibility for the lifespan of their products.

“The Tonkmeter site is not a dump. It was designed from day one to be an integrated waste management facility and this material recovery facility, although small, will be the crown jewel of this project,” he concluded.

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