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K1 Recycling launch the Packa-Ching Initiative in Eden Park

Eden Park residents are hopeful that the recycling education and training will change their lives for the better, especially for the youth battling unemployment.

K1 Recycling and sponsors Fibre Circle and Polyco launched the Packa-Ching initiative (PCI) while commemorating the Global Recycling Day at Ext 2, Eden Park in Ward 57, on March 18.

PCI is an initiative by Polyco and was established on August 21, 2017, to change how communities view waste.

The initiative reaches out to poor communities with vast amounts of visible waste, teaching them about waste separation and providing learning resources to recycle waste.

Pastor Jerrn Markus addresses residents on behalf of councillor Dino Peterson.

The programme started with residents, led by Pastor Jerrn Markus, cleaning up at the swimming pool in Eden Park and surrounding areas.

In Kathorus, the initiative was first introduced at Moshoeshoe Section, Katlehong in December 2023 and it has been successfully administrated by their maintenance team.

According to the founder and CEO of K1 Recycling, Tshepo Mazibuko, the project was started slightly differently from the one they launched in Moshoeshoe but the objective remains the same.

He said the difference was that in Moshoeshoe they started with collection and training waste champions followed by the launch because the community had already begun cleaning and maintaining their environment.
In Eden Park, they started with the launch because it was short notice but they will train them after applying the same set-up as that of Moshoeshoe.

Eden Park residents clean their environment outside the public swimming pool and surrounding areas at Ext 2 on March 18.

He said a community member requested them to bring the initiative to Eden Park, and he arranged for them to meet their councillor Dino Peterson.

Peterson said they usually conduct cleaning campaigns to remove illegal dumping sites but on the same day, people would start dumping again.

“We informed the councillor that the problem is not waste, but understanding how waste management and recycling works. Because everyone is looking at recycling without a clear understanding that recycling is taking the product and reprocessing it to be used again.

“There are producer responsibility organisations (PRO) that are mandated by the government to support community initiatives for cleaning and taking care of the environment but communities are not aware of it.”
He said their next task is to find 20 environmental champions in Eden Park and train them.

Fibre Circle marketing and communications manager Dumisani Khumalo said their main aim is to work with the community in creating awareness and educating them.

The marketing and communications manager at Fibre Circle, Dumisani Khumalo, addresses Eden Park residents during the global recycling day.

He said as a PRO they work specifically with paper and paper packaging but there are other streams of waste like plastic, bottles and cans.

“We want recyclable waste to end up at a recycling mill, so if it is a paper it must be at a paper recycling mill. In that way we are creating employment and we are simulating a circular economy where material such as paper is not thrown away but it is reused over and over,” Khumalo noted.

According to research, paper can be used almost 20 times. It can be used to create cardboard and eventually used for toilet paper.

Pastor Markus from Cassia Ministries represented Peterson in his absence. He serves as the faith-based portfolio chairperson for Ward 57.

Nickle Peterson is one of the environmental champions in Eden Park.

Learners from Eden Park Secondary School received learning material.

“As you can see there are plenty of guys who are affected by drugs, some are still in rehab, what I have seen today is that these people came to us with solutions,” he continued.

“They have shown us how we can turn recyclable products to benefit us and it comes with opportunities to better our lives. Most of them are doing it already but they only recycle metal. With this new information they now know that they can recycle other things without stealing from the communities,” said Peterson.

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