Jeffreys Bay, Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Eastern Cape

A recycling project focused on putting children’s needs first has been running in Jeffreys Bay since 2010. The long-running project ticks many boxes of reducing waste, connecting with children more holistically, making meaningful contributions to stressed households, and building a culture of volunteerism and mutual responsibility and respect. 

What was the problem?

Jeffreys Bay, like many other large towns, is faced with challenges of high volumes of unmanaged waste, dumping, as well as problems of poverty and high unemployment. 

There are also fewer social safety nets available from local authorities, especially for children in need and vulnerable households. 

How are they solving it?

The J-Bay Recycling Project started because two friends saw the value of a similar win-win initiative that had started in Hermanus. They replicated and shaped the idea for their town. 

Local children are encouraged to collect recyclables and to bring these to the community centre in Pellsrus on set dates. Each child who does this becomes a member of the project and gets credits for the sorted waste they bring in. The credits they earn – called “mula” – can then be swapped for items in the project’s store that opens once a week. These items range from stationery to household goods, clothes and toys. 

The collected recyclables are in turn bought by a recycling company every week and monies go back into stock for the store. J-Bay Recycling also works with corporate donors and accepts some pre-loved items in good condition. 

Tanja Lategan, the co-ordinator of the community project who has been with the project from the start, says that there are over 200 children at the swap shop every Monday afternoon. 

Together they remove six to eight tonnes of recyclables from ending up in landfills or the environment. Lategan says another big win is that children learn the value of getting involved and to do their bit for the environment and for their families and communities.

Each child who arrives at the project is assisted by a volunteer acting as a  “personal shopper”. The idea, Lategan says, is to help children understand the value of saving or prioritising needs. 

“But we do have an unspoken rule that each child should get to choose one item for themselves, even if they have a shopping list from home, because the children have done the work of collecting the recyclables,” she says.

The project has a large group of volunteers who abide by a code of conduct. They focus on making sure children can see that they play a part in making the project work – they are not simply receiving handouts, says Lategan.

“The children teach us so much, but we hope that the project helps them understand things like delayed gratification, or needs versus wants and about looking after the environment,” she says.

The project’s long success means it has the support of many volunteers, from students through to retirees. Lategan says they are all driven by a sense of being a community coming together to achieve more common good.

What makes it work?

Building a strong volunteer base  - the J-Bay Recycling Project relies on volunteers who are trained to help educate about sorting recyclables, also to run the swap shop as mindful shopping guides for the children. 

Creating a system of circularity - ****Each child becomes part of the circular economy when they become a member of the project. This means everyone plays a part in keeping the project going and understands their role and contributions. 

Understanding communities’ needs – While the shop initially focused on stationery items and children’s clothes and toys. They soon realised the greater need in the community for household items including basics like soap, toothpaste, porridge and canned goods. Recognising and responding to this has made the project more relevant.

Taking joy and not panicking at setbacks – Lategan says there will be inevitable setbacks in a community-driven project. “I’ve learnt not to panic when things go wrong and to trust that there is always a solution – people do step up,” she says, and adds that a community project works when it has impact but also when the  mutual benefit – and even joy – is felt by all. 

Sticking to a core focus  - The project is child-focused. This means they include fun activities including awards for the top recyclers and Christmas parties for members. 

Acknowledgements

Author: Fixlocal Reporter

Additional articles/sources: https://jbayrecyclingproject.org/

Photograph: Phil Craig J-Bay Recycling Project