Waste pickers make a living
You have probably seen them outside your gates searching your refuse bags, digging deep into the garbage hoping to salvage something to recycle for money.
They are called waste pickers, scavenging for bottles, cans, boxes, food and clothes.
With unemployment rife in South Africa, some have resorted to crime just to make a living, but waste pickers have chosen an innocent way to earn some money.
Waste picker Daniel Densel, who stays in Angelo, said: “I survive with what I am doing. I started in 2005 and I’m still going strong.
“I pick up bottles and boxes to recycle them and, with the little money I get, I buy food and pay rent.
“I work Monday to Friday; I go around the whole of Boksburg searching through people’s dustbins in search of something to recycle,” he said.
Another waste picker, Aventinah Makhwakhwa, said she has been digging through garbage for the last five years and manages to survive on the income.
“Property owners don’t shout at us, but they look at us in a strange way,” said Makhwakhwa.
Thembisile Mdluli said she survives on the money she gets and also uses it to support her family.
Mdluli, who doesn’t want to rely on her husband for money, said she was employed as a domestic worker, but quit because of the harsh treatment and little money she received.
“I then decided to work for myself and be my own boss,” she explained.
”Sure, it’s not easy to dig through trash, but you have no one bothering you and you work at your own pace.
“You earn, depending on the effort you put in.”
The waste pickers take recyclable materials to scrap yards or to recycling companies, where 1kg of material can pay around R3.50, while a big bag can fetch R70.
They say they make around R1 000 a month, depending on how hard they’ve worked.
