Motherwell is a high-density residential area in Nelson Mandela Bay with a large population of active informal waste reclaimers. These collectors were already doing critical work, pulling recyclable material off streets, from households and out of skips. But they had nowhere reliable to sell what they collected.

Before the buy-back centre was strengthened, collectors faced long travel distances, inconsistent and opaque pricing, unreliable buyers, and real personal safety risks from cash transactions. Monthly recycling volumes at the site sat below one tonne. Nelson Mandela Bay’s landfills were running out of space, and the gap between what the community could contribute and what the system could absorb was widening.

Phambili Services, working with DNF Waste Services and the Noziqhamo Recycling cooperative, stepped in to close that gap.