Tshepo Mazibuko is passionate about recycling and has managed to build a sustainable business.
Image: VUKUZENZELE

After sending out his CV with no luck securing a job for six years, a man ignored the raised eyebrows of friends and family by opting to become a waste picker.

Now, Tshepo Mazibuko, 40, from Katlehong in Ekurhuleni, is the renowned owner of K1 Recycling, a township-based waste management company. 

Mazibuko recalled how he used to depend on other people to make ends meet as a jobless 29-year-old. “I was frustrated,” he said.

He was volunteering at an organisation that helps the needy when he had an encounter with the owner who was originally from Brazil. “We saw the waste pickers passing with trolleys in town and he explained that part of Brazil is clean because of these guys.”

Little did he know that a seed had been planted. “One day I approached [a waste picker] and he told me how they pick up waste to go and sell it. That just made me crazy because the township is dirty.”

He then started researching recycling and collecting trash for resale.  He said that instead of sitting at home unemployed, at least he would be doing something and earning some money. He still remembers how excited he was when he bought his first trolley for R200 in 2009. “All along I was looking for work and could not find it, and now I was doing something – even though many did not approve.” 

For three years, he went through people’s bins looking for any recyclables he could find to trade for a small amount of cash to feed his family.

“Some people thought I was losing it,” he said with a chuckle.

He recalls a day when he was looking through a bin when the owner of the house came outside. When he lifted his head, he realised it was a guy he used to go to school with. “He nearly cried and offered me food,” Mazibuko said.

His first pay cheque was about R150 after a hard day’s work. “We would walk about 10km to go sell. I did not make much money but the passion was there.”

After some convincing, he and his wife, Thando, took a chance and bought their first bakkie to transport reclaimers to sell their trash in 2011 and more people demanded his service.

Mazibuko then saw another opportunity to buy the recyclables from the pickers. “That’s when the idea of becoming a buy-back centre came in.”

He registered his business the same year and employed two people. He began applying for enterprise development programmes and luckily scored an opportunity to study a short course at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) after a tough selection process. “This is where I learnt to draft a business plan.”

Possibilities are endless for this entrepreneur who has introduced technology where waste pickers can be paid via cellphones, which is safer and more convenient than carrying cash.  His next adventure is to manufacture end-user products from the recyclables collected in the township and is looking forward to the challenge.

“We believe we are going to increase the job count and keep our environment clean.” 

• This article first appeared in GCIS’s Vukuzenzele

Article by: https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/sebenza-live/2020-12-01-tired-of-job-hunting-mazibuko-becomes-a-waste-picker/