It was a tough decision to start picking up waste. Imagine, I used to work in an air-conditioned office, and suddenly I found myself scavenging for plastic waste,” she says.
After a few years, the startup plastic recycling company to which she sold plastic waste eventually employed her. “I am now back doing office work as an administrator here. It feels like a fairy tale from being in the office, to picking trash and back to the office again,” Jakiti tells Mongabay from her office at the plastic recycling facility where she now works, Stable Packaging.
Jakiti is not the only one who discovered money in waste. Across the country and social classes, recycling trash by picking it up and selling it or buying it and converting it into profitable materials has becoming a booming business.In response to the increased supply in plastic waste waiting to be sold and the opportunity to sell new commodities made from low-cost materials, plastic recycling companies, which buy the waste and process it, also increased their presence from 49 in 2019, to 71 countrywide in 2023.
Stable Packaging runs two extrusion machines at its plant that recycles plastic waste to make irrigation pipes, plastic wrap, bin liners, planter bags and bags for animal feed, among other things.
Though these plastic recycling facilities are privately owned, Chapungu says some get loans from the government to increase production while also receiving support and environmental stewardship awards from the EMA. In some cases, the EMA looks for markets for the community recycling clubs to sell their wares. Some processing facilities, like the Masvingo Urban Recycling Club, are provided with transportation to deliver their recycled materials.
