The City’s Urban Waste Management Directorate supported the Western Cape Government’s Community Development Worker (CDW) Programme in Kuils River with assistance in setting up a recycling service for Happy Valley Primary School. The service will generate income to increase support to learners.

Alderman Grant Twigg, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, visited the school on Monday, 20 February, to help launch the recycling project with the incoming Grade R learners and the public education and awareness team.

This project was initiated to address the dual challenges of poverty and illegal dumping that are both prevalent in the area. The school will receive a donation of recycling bins, as well as training on how to operate a recycling service. The City will also put the school in touch with recycling companies that can purchase recyclables. The income from selling recyclables can then be used to support the school’s nutrition programmes, or help with other expenses.

‘We hope this initiative will also help change the community’s relationship with waste. With local children raising awareness around the value of waste, communities will hopefully be less inclined to treat waste carelessly.

‘Recycling and responsibility around waste are key to creating a brighter future for our children, and with this recycling project, it just became a lot easier for the community to recycle as well as contribute to education. I encourage more schools to explore the potential of recycling to create an extra income stream, using resources on our website,’ said Alderman Twigg.

The City has developed guidelines for schools that would like to follow the example of Happy Valley Primary. These include advice for auditing the waste generated by the school, setting up a waste management committee, tips around staffing and infrastructure for a recycling centre, and strategies for the promotion of recycling in the local community. The original guide is available on the City’s website, and some more recent information, including ways to compost the school’s organic waste, is available here for those who are interested in exploring this.

Furthermore, with the promulgation of extended producer responsibility regulations. producers of paper and packaging waste, electronic waste and lighting waste have, by law, had to take more responsibility for recycling the waste they produce. Several producer responsibility organisations (PROs) have been set up to handle this aspect of corporate social responsibility. There could be potential for these PROs to assist schools, for example, by providing recycling containers. Schools are encouraged to contact the PROs and explore how they can partner to make recycling a reality in their schools. A list of PRO websites can be found here.

Source: City Of Cape Town