Local NGO GreenALot says with the help of residents, Pretoria can be ranked among the top five cleanest cities on the continent.

Pretoria was ranked 11th in a 2025 continental survey.
GreenALot cofounder Gontse Molelekeng-Adeniran said showcasing ordinary citizens’ efforts could help move Pretoria into the top five.

“In 2025, we asked ourselves what could be done about packaging waste ending up in our city’s critical waterways. We realised that part of the problem and part of the solution is in households. My sister, Kgautsang Molelekeng, and I decided to obsess over this problem and this opportunity. We were eventually incubated by mLab, where we refined the business model,” Molelekeng-Adeniran said.

GreenALot’s database of households joins their platform, residents gather their dry recyclables and e-waste, and book a collection via WhatsApp.

Their motorbike drivers then collect the materials directly from your doorstep. The service is currently rolling out household collections across Centurion, Pretoria east, Hatfield, Pretoria Central, and parts of Pretoria North.

Molelekeng-Adeniran said she recognises the municipality’s efforts, but its resources are under increasing pressure as the city and its population continue to grow.

“Tshwane is a beautiful, green metropolitan area with important rivers, dams and natural ecosystems, but these are increasingly affected by the waste generated through our consumption. Landfill capacity is under pressure, and many communities experience the consequences of poor waste management every day.

“There is still significant work to be done, from planting and protecting trees and restoring our rivers, to improving waste management. Most importantly, we need to make separation at source part of everyday life in our homes if we want to build the clean, sustainable city Tshwane can be,” Molelekeng-Adeniran said.

Since its inception in 2025, GreenALot has joined and sponsored the Hennops River clean-up movement in March 2025, organised by Storm Ceronio, where over 1000 bags were collected from the riverways.

The organisation worked with waste reclaimers, providing them with clean, dry and verified materials in secure locations. The NGO has also worked with NATHouse at the University of Pretoria to educate students and fundraise.

They were named a top three startup in Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia and South Africa). This led to an opportunity to pitch on a global stage at Latitude59, where they won a startup grant for innovation.

GreenALot was also part of the Apies River’s low-water bridge clean-up in honour of a new campaign aimed at cleaning up South African rivers, under the leadership of the newly appointed Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Jack Bloom, on July 20.

In future, Molelekeng-Adeniran says that she hopes to show the world that metro residents can separate at source, with homes being able to prove their recycling behaviour and earn rewards while saving the planet.

GreenALot will be working with businesses and industries to strengthen the recovery of waste, creating green jobs and working with waste reclaimers.

She says that Tshwane will once again be known as a clean city because individual households took a stand and reclaimed the title, showing the world that separation at source tracking is possible in a developing country.

Their short-term plans include securing industry support and buy-in, reaching 500 pickups by the end of the fourth quarter and finding more opportunities for the youth to participate in green jobs.

“Unlike loadshedding, this is a crisis we can all help solve today. Every household generates waste. Every household can separate it. By recycling, we reclaim valuable materials instead of burying them in landfills, protect our rivers and precious water resources, and help make Tshwane the cleanest city in Africa.

“The solution starts with us, one pickup request at pickup request at pickup request at pickup request at pickup request at bag, one pickup, one neighbourhood at a time,” Molelekeng-Adeniran said.

Molelekeng-Adeniran believes that one of the biggest challenges is shifting the way people think about waste, especially packaging from e-commerce deliveries – and helping communities understand that responsible waste management is fundamental to building sustainable places.

GreenALot believes that waste should not simply become part of the environment in which people live, and that more corporations should adopt and invest in innovative models that complement their existing sustainability efforts.

The NGO has noted that Tshwane metro households will participate in recycling when solutions make it easy for households, businesses, and communities to take part, while creating measurable environmental impact.

“Climate change is real, and whether we choose to acknowledge its effects or not, they affect all of us. We need to become more conscious consumers, only buying what we need, understanding the waste we generate, and thinking about where our waste ultimately ends up.

“We owe it to future generations to make better choices about how and what we consume. At the same time, responsibility cannot rest solely with individuals. We need stronger corporate accountability and innovative solutions that address waste at the production level, making sustainable choices easier for ordinary people.

“This really has to be an ecosystem effort – business, residents and government all rising to the occasion together. That’s how Tshwane reclaims its title as one of Africa’s cleanest cities,” Molelekeng-Adeniran said.

Corporations are encouraged to participate through employee recycling races. Households can join the platform or join the waitlist for areas that haven’t reached yet to bag their dry recyclables and schedule a pickup through the platform.

“More importantly, we would like the industry to see this youth-owned startup as an opportunity, not a threat. We welcome mentorship,” Gontse said.

For more information, visit Instagram: @greenalot_sa. To sign up or book a pickup WhatsApp 081 783 3684.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok or WhatsApp Channel