Making a real difference

Committed to community development and job creation, ECOmonkey Recycling is making a tangible difference to people’s lives as the company strives to provide environmentally friendly recycling services.

etween 60% and 75% of all B manufactured waste can be usefully recycled. If done, this can significantly reduce the environmental impact of waste by decreasing the volumes sent to landfill.

“With landfills in South Africa reaching their maximum capacity, recycling should be a top priority for every South African,” says Simon Thom, owner, ECOmonkey Recycling. “By increasing our recycling levels, we can significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from landfill, conserve natural resources, save energy, and create jobs.”

Job creation is a core part of ECOmonkey’s mission. The company offers environmentally friendly recycling collection services to residential, corporate and industrial customers, big and small. This includes the weekly or fortnightly collection of glass, paper, plastic, cans and e-waste.

Employment and upliftment

ECOmonkey promotes an owner-driven collection service with BBBEE development. Collections are managed by independent drivers who are paid per client that they service. ECOmonkey assists drivers by purchasing vehicles on their behalf and providing a client base. Once paid off, drivers receive ownership of their vehicles.

The owner-drivers of the waste removal trucks are trained and assisted by ECOmonkey to manage their SMMEs, and the company’s policy is to source staff from community-based organisations or NGOs.

Recyclable materials are delivered to various community recycling projects where they are sorted, and the income goes directly to the community members involved. Despite the environmental services industry – which includes recycling – having no industry transformation charter, ECOmonkey has positioned itself as a BBBEE service provider. The company measures its transformation against the requirements for empowerment set out in the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act (No. 53 of 2003), and the Codes of Good Practice on BBBEE.

All employees are trained in the highly specialised domain of recycling as well as provided training in basic business practices for entrepreneurs and SMME owners, basic literacy and numeracy (if required), occupational health and safety, and waste management principles.

“After eight years with us, one of our drivers was able to move to Polokwane and establish his own recycling business with two vehicles. It is a great opportunity to grow your own business,” says Thom.

“Everyone benefits. We offer upliftment through education and create jobs for disadvantaged members of the community while diverting waste from landfills and ensuring that recyclables are processed correctly.”

Having operated in Gauteng for years, Thom hopes to expand the company, which he describes as “a collection of small SMMEs”, to the Cape Town area within the next year.