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Ezekiel Ramashia, a father of four from Tembisa in the south of Johannesburg, proudly attributes his ability to adequately provide for his family to pursuing opportunities in recycling.
"My eldest son is now practicing as a professional nurse, and I feel very proud that I was able to afford his tertiary education fees,” he says. “The income that I generated from my career in recycling enabled me to sustain my family, which motivated me to do more.“
Ezekiel’s career journey began when he started collecting waste on the streets at the age of 21. “Like many young people in South Africa, I was unemployed and needed to generate an income,” he shares. “Each morning I would see my neighbours pushing trolleys, so one day I decided to tag along with them to see what it was all about.”
According to Ezekiel, he started off with two trolleys - one initially supplied by Mondi, and the other from Sappi. According to the South African Waste Pickers Association they have around 4 000 to 6 000 members across all nine provinces that contribute to recovering a significant amount of paper and packaging waste, and diverting it from ending up in municipal landfills. These individuals have found a way to organically support and assist each other, which made starting out in the industry a little easier for Ezekiel.
Through guidance from other waste pickers, the areas he identified as his collection points were Rosebank, Sandton, Kempton Park and Midrand. He would then sell the recyclables he collected for between R200 and R300 a day to Mpact Recycling (previously Remade) in Wynberg. Recognising his potential and hard work, the then branch manager, Scott Ferguson, offered him a position as a general worker.
“Working in this facility was challenging at first, but it was an opportunity for me to learn the basics of the business of recycling,” he says. “That is when I developed the idea of starting my own business.”
Over the next decade, while working at the Wynberg branch, Ezekiel advanced to nightshift supervisor. After some time, he ventured into operating his own independent buy-back centre in Tembisa with the support of the Mpact Recycling team behind him.
“I found a suitable site for sorting near my home,” he explains. “I was then equipped with a scale and other basic equipment that allowed me to start my own buy back centre.”
Today, with over 20 years in the recycling industry, Ezekiel continues to empower his immediate community, not just by providing job opportunities, but educating them on the benefits of recycling.
"I remember raising R30 000 for my daughter’s first year, and slowly building my home,” he recalls. “People in my area started to notice how recycling was positively impacting my life, and they began to take my work seriously,” he says.
His commitment extends beyond business. He actively educates unemployed youth on how to start their own recycling career. His aim is to enhance recycling practices and raise community awareness on how to dispose of waste correctly, so that waste collectors collect non-contaminated, and high-quality recyclables.
The impact of waste pickers extends to municipal waste management savings. According to the CSIR, in 2014, informal waste pickers helped municipalities across the country save between R309 million and R748 million by diverting recyclables from landfills and freeing up space.
“Waste pickers play a very important role in South Africa's recycling efforts,” states Ezekiel. “That’s where I started, and now I encourage my community to do the same so that we can all live in a cleaner area, and put food on the table for our families.”
Companies like Mpact Recycling are one of the leaders at the forefront of empowering waste pickers supporting buy-back centres.. This is achieved by providing them with access to a stable income and critical skills development.
Through strategic partnerships with producer responsibility organisations, Mpact enables waste pickers to contribute more effectively to the circular economy, while fostering environmental sustainability.
Ezekiel's story is testament to the potential within South Africa's recycling industry . By supporting waste collectors, attending educational workshops with brands like Fibre Circle, Petco and Polyco, and promoting sustainable practices, underserved communities can create economic opportunities and achieve environmental stewardship.
Mpact Recycling is the leading collector of recyclable packaging (such as paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and cans) in South Africa. As a division of the Mpact Group, their branches provide a place to store, sort, and bale recyclable materials collected from both pre- and post-consumer sources. The company plays a crucial role in promoting the importance of recycling in Southern Africa, collecting over 594,000 tonnes of recyclables in 2023 alone.
In addition to its recycling operations, Mpact Recycling has established community drop-off sites and a Residential Estates Recycling Programme, providing convenient access to recycling facilities for individuals and communities across the country.
Mpact Recycling has two head offices located in Thulisa Park and Germiston, respectively, and 14 operational branches spread across Gauteng, the North-West Province, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. For more information on Mpact Recycling, please visit www.mpactrecycling.co.za
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