Building collaboration between industry, government and communities to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements

The GreenUp initiative in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, is a collaborative recycling project launched in June 2019 by Distell with support from the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Provincial Government. The project integrates waste pickers into the formal waste management system by providing infrastructure, training, and equipment, enabling them to collect and sell recyclables to buyback centres. Between 2019 and 2022, membership grew from 62 to 120 people. In 2020, the project diverted 60-100 tonnes of recyclables from landfills and generated income for members between R80,000 and R120,000. The model is presented as a potentially replicable approach for implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations by incorporating the informal sector.

• The GreenUp initiative utilizes a multi-stakeholder collaboration model where the City of Cape Town provides temporary space and three containers for sorting and storage, while Distell provides mentorship, training, personal protective equipment (PPE), scales, office equipment, recycling bags, and a waste tracking platform. Waste Plan provides a bakkie to assist in waste reduction efforts.
• The project has scaled its community impact, growing from 62 members in the Makhaza community in 2019 to 120 members by 2022. In 2020, the initiative diverted between 60 and 100 tonnes of recyclables from landfills and generated income for its 62 members totaling between R80,000 and R120,000.
• The initiative provides financial benefits to the municipality through landfill airspace savings, which were valued between R40,000 and R69,000 in 2020, alongside additional savings from cleaning up illegal dumping sites.
• The GreenUp model is identified as a potentially replicable framework for the implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations starting in 2022-23, specifically regarding the mandate to incorporate the informal sector.

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). Building collaboration between industry, government and communities to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape_Informal_sector_13_6_22-1.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Building collaboration between industry, government and communities to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape_Informal_sector_13_6_22-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Building collaboration between industry, government and communities to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape_Informal_sector_13_6_22-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendbuilding, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Building collaboration between industry, government and communities to support recycling in informal and low-income settlements}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GreenCape_Informal_sector_13_6_22-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }