Enterprise Development Programme: Building economic resilience through waste diversion and entrepreneurship in Atlantis, South Africa

The Enterprise Development Programme (EDP), initiated by GreenCape in 2017, aims to foster green economic growth in Atlantis, South Africa, by converting waste streams into business opportunities. Building on material flow analyses from the Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP), the EDP provides training and incubation to entrepreneurs to create viable business plans for waste diversion. While early phases focused on start-ups, later iterations shifted toward adding value to established businesses to reduce inherent start-up risks. Key lessons include the need for product development specialists and the challenge of high costs associated with imported recycling technologies.

• The Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP) conducted a project for the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) in 2015-2016, engaging 46 manufacturers across 13 sectors and identifying 417 resources, consisting of 209 'haves' and 208 'wants'.
• Initial WISP synergies resulted in the diversion of 32 tonnes of waste from landfills, generated R2.1 million in additional revenue, achieved R2.7 million in cost savings, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 3,500 tonnes CO2e.
• The EDP's first phase in February 2017 provided aspiring entrepreneurs with one day of training per week for three months to develop business plans based on WISP's market research, resulting in two participants receiving full incubation services from the South African Renewable Energy Business Incubator (SAREBI).
• In 2018, WISP identified several waste materials lacking existing solutions for the EDP, including chemically treated wood products (MDF, sleeper wood off-cuts, chipboard, shutterboard), contaminated waste water, foundry sand, laminated glass, and composite plastic car bumpers.
• The programme identified three primary challenges: the need for product development specialists to improve entrepreneur success rates, the high start-up costs and operational skill requirements of imported high-tech recycling solutions, and the risk that waste producers find alternative solutions before a start-up becomes operational.
• A new project launched in July 2019 by WISP and the City of Cape Town's Enterprise and Investment Department shifted focus toward creating additional value within existing businesses with established track records to reduce the risks associated with the start-up phase.

APA

GreenCape (2019). Enterprise Development Programme: Building economic resilience through waste diversion and entrepreneurship in Atlantis, South Africa. https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Resilience-Case-Study-3_EDP_ONLINE-25-11-2019.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Enterprise Development Programme: Building economic resilience through waste diversion and entrepreneurship in Atlantis, South Africa. 2019. https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Resilience-Case-Study-3_EDP_ONLINE-25-11-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Enterprise Development Programme: Building economic resilience through waste diversion and entrepreneurship in Atlantis, South Africa |date=2019 |url=https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Resilience-Case-Study-3_EDP_ONLINE-25-11-2019.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencape2019enterprise, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Enterprise Development Programme: Building economic resilience through waste diversion and entrepreneurship in Atlantis, South Africa}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2019}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/assets/GreenCape_Resilience-Case-Study-3_EDP_ONLINE-25-11-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }