Bellville Zero Waste is the GTP’s campaign to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill from homes, schools and businesses in Bellville. Under the Bellville Zero Waste banner, we have spearheaded various projects that will help to move our community towards a zero-waste future. This month the GTP has launched a new challenge to businesses. Enter the Bellville Business Recycling Challenge for a chance to win R5 000 in cash.
Join the challenge by following the steps below and you can Become Bellville’s Business Recycling Champion!
Step 1 – register to participate: contact on: (021) 823 6713 or email
Step 2 – a GTP team member will drop off your recycling card
Step 3 – an informal waste collector will be assigned to your business. they will collect your recycables and take them to a local depot where they will earn a small fee.
Step 4 – for every bag collected you will receive a sticker.
Step 5 – completed cards will be collected and you’ll receive another card.
The competition runs from 16 March until 15 June. The business with the most completed cards will win prizes to the value of R5 000. Terms and conditions apply.
For more information, contact .
Why is this important?
Cape Town’s landfills are close to reaching full capacity. And yet, according to the City of Cape Town’s 2018 State of the Environment report, the city’s 4.5 million residents generated 400 kilograms per capita of waste in 2016. Of this only 20% was recycled.
Schools, businesses and individuals contribute to the city’s waste mountain every month. There is an urgent need to educate communities about the critical importance of using less, recycling more and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.
Entrenched mindsets reinforce habitual ‘throwing away’ rather than a culture of reducing, reusing and recycling waste. This approach absolves the individual responsibility for their own waste footprints. Waste removal also costs money, losing valuable revenue, in tough economic times, that could be put to better use in building businesses and inspiring future leaders.
And finally, as citizens of their own neighborhoods, every business, school and home has an additional responsibility to lead by example and to embed a more responsible, sustainable culture in their practices.
What is Bellville Zero Waste?
Bellville Zero Waste is a platform that educates, empowers and encourages businesses, schools and individuals in Cape Town’s secondary city to take more active responsibility for their waste practices. The concept comprises various activities in a whole-of-community approach, working with schools, NGOs, community groups, private businesses and individuals in devising and implementing projects that will achieve the intended outcome of a zero-waste future.
At the time of writing, in addition to the Bellville Business Recycling Challenge, Bellville Zero Waste comprises various activities:
ZERO WASTE SCHOOLS: a pilot project implemented with a local prominent high school, comprising a system of labelled recycling bins, an on-site recycling depot, Ecobrick stations, and composting pit. The pilot of this programme was implemented with DF Malan High School. Within the first three months of the programme, the school had diverted 60% of its waste from landfill, with predicted annual savings of around R36 000 per year
TROLLEY PROJECT: matching local businesses with informal waste pickers who are allocated trolleys to transport business recycling waste for a small fee, enabling them to earn an income. Within the first year of the project’s initiation, several local businesses agreed to sponsor waste collection trolleys, including a donation of 30 trolleys from local plastic recycling company Petco. Six waste operators were trained and selected, and matched to businesses in the area.
STREET STORE: hosting local versions of the Street Store, in which local residents donate unwanted clothing for the homeless to acquire for free. In 2019, the GTP collected around 2000 kilograms of unused clothing which would otherwise have been languishing in cupboards or sent to landfill. Around 160 homeless individuals were able to ‘shop’ for the clothes for free, restoring dignity and pride in their lives.
ECOBRICK DESIGN CHALLENGE: calling to local residents to design furniture and public art using EcoBricks
TRACK MY TRASH CHALLENGE: a challenge calling for local residents to use a custom-designed app to track how much waste they recycle on a weekly basis
The GTP is seeking to expand and extend these projects, to entrench a new mindset of more responsible, sustainable waste management practices. If you want to get involved, contact .
