Linda van Bruggen turned a toaster, printer, three steam irons and three keyboards into R1,200 to beat the mid-month financial blues.
Van Bruggen, from Cape Town, was one of more than 12,000 South Africans who showed up for the E-waste Recycling Authority’s (ERA) initiative to turn dead electronics into Makro vouchers last weekend.
Troleen Chidyausiku, of Midrand, exchanged her e-waste — old hard drives, a Nintendo Switch console, network cables, a cellphone and broken monitor — into vouchers valued at R1,800.
“I went with my husband and my son. We walked away with R1,800 and went straight to Makro where I bought my groceries. This happened on Sunday, after I saw the posts on Saturday evening. I feel I achieved a lot and called to tell all my friends,” she said.
Amanda Grundelingh, of Germiston, said the R1,200 she got for two cellphones, an iron, a laptop and printer was desperately needed.
“I got R1,200 and I ran into Makro and got groceries we desperately needed,” she said.
Many who received vouchers planned to go back this weekend after digging for more unused electronic devices collecting dust in their cupboards.
R7m - the monetary value of Makro vouchers that were given out
8kg - the average e-waste generated per person worldwide
— In numbers
However, the drive was shelved due to an overwhelming response, which saw South Africans queuing from as early as 4am outside some Makro stores.
“Due to the overwhelming response this past weekend on our e-waste drive, we are unfortunately unable to offer any vouchers to customers this weekend. But we promise to make it up to you, and we will be hosting another weekend soon for you to responsibly pass on your old electronics and appliances,” ERA said.
Massmart spokesperson Brian Leroni said about 12,000 people participated in the two-day programme resulting in the collection of about 35,000kg of e-waste.
“Makro has, as part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, been running a customer e-waste take back scheme at our stores since 2008. The programme enables customers to ensure safe and environmentally responsible recycling of unwanted e-waste products.
“The initiative that we ran was ERA’s brainchild and intended to incentivise customers to safely dispose of their e-waste ... The response exceeded our expectations,” Leroni said.
However, the drive had to be canceled because of the overwhelming response.
“This was the first time we had rewarded customers for their e-waste and there is an opportunity to implement a more efficient process. We have therefore decided to review and redesign the process before running it again,” said Leroni.
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