Environment can only benefit from recycling unwanted materials
The dump site in town is full and the community can make a difference by recycling the materials they don't need.
LYDENBURG – The dump site in town is full and the community can make a difference by recycling the materials they don’t need.
Have you ever thought of what happens to the garbage in refuse bags which are collected at your gate? Recycling garbage is something that is not popular but it could be helpful to our environment, says owner and founder of Waste Legends, Mr Damara Khoza.
Waste Legends is a waste-management company in the town that recycles various materials which include glass, paper, hosepipes, cardboard, plastic, steel and cans among others. “Almost everything we use and have in our homes can be recycled and we can then reuse it,” Khoza added.
By recycling paper we can decrease the number of trees which are cut down in the country, and recycling uses less energy than reproducing paper from natural resources.
According to Khoza, recycling helps extend the life and expediency of things, some of the materials we recycle are those that have already served their initial purpose. We then send it to the relevant companies to produce something that is functional.
“For instance steel that was used and had served its purposes, we take what it is left of it, cut it into small sizes so that when we deliver it to the smelters it is ready for the melting process.”
Different materials require different techniques when recycled. “Paper and glass do not go through the same process. We sort, then compact cans and plastic bottles and after that we transport it to the company that process the material,” he explained.
Khoza is busy with an initiative to try and combat the increase of land pollution in Lydenburg.
“We have placed our bins at the dump site so that people can throw waste inside instead of throwing it next to the site.
The area is already full and some members of the community just continue to litter. The waste is slowly moving towards the industries and if not properly managed, it may even reach the town,” he added.
“Some community members collected bottles at the dump site, we then pay them R300 per six cubic metre bin, since they are helping in the recycling process in the community,” explained Khoza.
Some of the bins from Waste Legends are placed in town and the industrial site so that the public can access them.
“We have a bin next to Shoprite in Lange Street, next to Fit Engineering, Sammy engineering in De Cleque Street and we will provide more bins since some people have approached us for bins in the area,” he said.
Residents can collect recyclable materials and take them to waste-management companies and by doing so they make money while saving the environment and keeping the town clean.
White papers are R1 per kilogram, cardboard 25 cent and cans are R1,50.
