SA’s itinerant waste pickers feel the pinch as Covid-19 lockdown drags on.
The shutdown ordered by President Cyril Ramaphosa from March 26 and extended until April 30, is among the toughest in the world. It bans anyone apart from essential workers leaving their homes except to buy food or medicine.
For the past decade, 55-year-old grandmother Abigail Kubheka has been rising at 3am every morning in her house in Soweto. She walks some 10km a day to scavenge for recyclable trash and load it onto her cart. Even when she goes to church on Sunday, she carries a waste bag to scoop up any promising items on the way back. Besides doing wonders for her fitness, her activities have enabled her to feed, clothe and educate three children – one is now at university – and support two grandchildren.“People think waste pickers are low down, but I find it good. I’m healthy and I’m free,” she said.A spokesperson for the department of environment affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
The same report said they collect 80% to 90% of the paper and packaging that South Africa recycles, saving municipal authorities R750 million a year.
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