Waste pickers hard hit by scrap metal ban

Waste pickers and scrap metal shops are being badly affected by the newly imposed six-month prohibition of export of scrap copper and ferrous metals.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition announced the temporary ban last week saying that it was part of measures, to address the theft of public infrastructure for resale as scrap metal.

However, scrap metal shops on the South Coast such as Dees Recycling said the announcement has already had a negative impact on its businesses.

General manager at Dees Recycling, Preshni Harding told Fever that as licensed buyers, they do not buy Eskom copper since it is illicit goods.

“The announcement has already had a negative impact on our daily operations, employment capacity, and the man on the street who makes a living from waste collections. We are faced with a crisis because we have been in operation for over 30 years, our infrastructure needs maintaining and that will be difficult due to the lack of business,” she said.

Harding added that theft of public infrastructure is a policing issue that government needs to focus on.
She said if there are law enforcement officers who are hard on patrols and inspections, there would not be cases of people digging up railways for copper.

“There are syndicates who are behind copper theft but now we have to suffer and we are being painted with the same brush. We are still trying to recover from the 2018 recession and now we have to suffer for another six months without knowing what government will decide after the six months,” said Harding.

Gamalakhe-based waste picker, Bukiwe Xolo said she is disheartened because she used the money from collecting waste to feed her family.

“I did not understand the Minister’s announcement as a person who is not fluent in English. I am not sure whether we are being prohibited from collecting all types of waste. It is going to be hard for us who make a living from this,” said Xolo.
The announcement by Trade, Industry, and Competition was welcomed by KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sihle Zikalala.

Zikalala said this will stop criminal groups from destroying municipal infrastructure in the province, which has cost hundreds of millions of rand and hurt the economy.

“With this decision, criminal gangs that steal and pillage important infrastructure that provides services like electricity, water, and sanitation will be hit hard, as they will no longer have a market to trade the stolen electricity cables and other components,” said Zikalala.

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