Local News
Waste economy holds economic and environmental benefits for SA: IRR─── THANDI XABA 06:50 Thu, 22 Oct 2015
Bloemfontein - There are major economic and environmental benefits that can be gained from turning waste into worth.
This is according to the SA Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) in their recent policy bulletin.
SAIRR spokesperson, Mienke Steytler, says joblessness is particularly severe among young people in poor communities, where the unemployment rate often exceeds 50%. She says with these communities often living close to landfills they are likely to be exposed to waste that is unsightly and also hazardous to human health.
She says the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) helps clean up the environment while also creating jobs and supporting the emergence of local entrepreneurs.
The public-private collaboration which began in 2012 to collect and process tyre waste, has so far created more than 2 500 jobs, established a number of small enterprises and cut by half the mountain of tyre waste that was previously discarded every year.
Thandi Xaba/OFM News
Mienke Steytler:
