Collaboration between business and government to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements

This case study describes a collaborative pilot project between the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, the Border-Kei Chamber of Business, and the producer responsibility organisation Polyco to establish hybrid buyback and drop-off centres for recyclables in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

• Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality faced several barriers to recycling, including a lack of public drop-off facilities, limited municipal capacity to operate recycling sites, and a low population density (304 people per km2) that complicated service provision. At the time of the project, the majority of waste was sent to landfill, and only 70.4% of households received weekly refuse removal.
• A partnership was formed in 2021 between Polyco, the Buffalo City Development Agency, and the Border-Kei Chamber of Business to pilot hybrid facilities at four sites: Settlers Way, Southernwood, Quigney, and Oxford Street. In this model, Buffalo City provided land and civil engineering, the Border-Kei Chamber of Business managed the contract to operate the sites, and Polyco funded infrastructure—including solar power, shipping containers, and software—and appointed a waste management service provider.
• The hybrid model combines a free community drop-off service with a buyback centre for waste reclaimers. Reclaimers are paid via a cashless system called WeighPay, a web-based app developed by Polyco that generates vouchers redeemable at vendors such as Shoprite/Checkers, Pick ‘n Pay, Boxer, U-Save, and Debonairs.
• Due to COVID-19 delays, only the Southernwood and Commercial Road facilities were established. Between October and December 2021, the Southernwood site diverted an average of 20 tonnes of material per month, while the Commercial Road site diverted an average of 8 tonnes per month. The two sites created 10 jobs.
• Lessons from the pilot indicate that a minimum volume of approximately 10 tonnes of recyclables per month is required for a viable business case. The project also highlighted that using an existing partner, like a chamber of commerce, can reduce 'red tape' and accelerate the process of securing land from a municipality.

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). Collaboration between business and government to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Buffalo-City-1.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Collaboration between business and government to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Buffalo-City-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Collaboration between business and government to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Buffalo-City-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendcollaboration, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Collaboration between business and government to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Buffalo-City-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }