When Nokubonga Mnyango quit her job as a driver-cum-administration-clerk at a Richards Bay wood mill nine years ago to “scratch in dirty dustbins”, people laughed at her decision to treat waste as treasure.
Today, Mnyango is the one who is laughing — all the way to the bank — thanks to her bold move to live litter-free and preserve the environment while making money.
Mnyango owns and runs Uthando Solutions and Trading — uthando means “love” in Zulu — which operates two recycling buyback centres in Ngwelezane and Kuleka, in Empangeni in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
200t - monthly average weight of mixed recyclables Uthando collects
100 - the number of waste collectors Uthando supports
22 - the number of full-time staff at Uthando
— IN NUMBERS:
Uthando collects about 200t a month of mixed recyclables, including plastics, paper, cardboard and cans, which are sold to recyclers.
“My love and passion for the environment drive me. I knew that this passion would lead me somewhere,” Mnyango told the Sunday Times.
Producer responsibility organisation Petco has supported her journey from wastepreneur to buyback-centre owner.
Petco runs programmes that help bolster the operations of small recycling buyback centres by training and mentoring entrepreneurs and providing infrastructural, equipment and funding support.
In 2014 Mnyango quit her job at the wood mill to start her business after attending a Petco recycling workshop where she learnt about the value of waste.
She chose the name Uthando “because I love the environment and keeping it clean”.
“People laughed at first because they said my work as a waste collector was ‘digging in dirty dustbins’. But as my work continued and my business began to grow, they saw that there was value in waste collection. Some asked if they could work with me and I ended up employing them at my buyback centres.”
Mnyango is proud that she is keeping waste out of the environment and “can give it value by collecting and recycling it”.
“Nowadays, it’s rare to find any litter that is recyclable lying around. Community members bring us boot-loads of recyclable materials, saying they would rather sell them than throw them away.
“We have given waste collectors a purpose in life — a reason to get up in the morning and work. They are not sitting on the sides of the roads any more.”
People laughed at first because they said my work as a waste collector was ‘digging in dirty dustbins’. But as my work continued and my business began to grow, they saw that there was value in waste collection.
— Nokubonga Mnyango, owner, Uthando Solutions and Trading
In 2021 the government made it mandatory for producers of packaged goods to take responsibility for the management of their packaging, from designing it to be recyclable to its post-use collection to be recycled and re-used.
Based on an analysis of Mnyango’s business, Petco sponsored a branded collection trailer when Uthando Solutions hit the milestone of 2t of recyclable material a month in 2016.
Its latest help came in the form of a baling machine that compresses recyclables.
Uthando collects recyclables from households, Lakeside Mall, Ngwelezane Hospital, informal collectors and shops in greater Empangeni.
Petco CEO Cheri Scholtz said Mnyango’s success story was proof that the organisation’s support of its members went further than sponsoring equipment.
“Our objective is keeping our members’ packaging out of the environment, starting with helping them design packaging that can be recycled into other products of value.”
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