The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi officially handed over a R7,5 million KwaMashu Buy Back Centre and composting facility to the eThekwini Municipality, on Friday, 28 June 2013.The core objective of the initiative is to promote a clean and green environment.

She said Government introduced the idea of Buy-Back Centres to reduce waste which gets dumped into landfill sites.

The Speaker of the Municipality, Councillor Logie Naidoo said the launch of this magnificent facility is going to be of great significance to the residents of Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu (PINK) areas. “Today is a special day as we are celebrating Environmental Month and with this new structure we will achieve our objectives of minimising waste in the City.” said Naidoo.

The Municipality’s Head of Durban Solid Waste Unit, Raymond Rampersad said this new facility will assure that the environment is well sustained and it also a drive for job creation. The project has to date provided employment to 100 people around KwaMashu and its implementation has promoted the idea of SMME development.

“We need to promote public participation so that we can ensure that this project is sustained. We empower and educate people on recycling as I believe that waste can create jobs for the people who live in the area,” said Rampersad.

He said waste recycling is one of the ways in which we can curb litter and generate income out of it. The Municipality is encouraging recycling as one of the ways of having a ‘green’ City. The recyclable materials that are allowed are; bottles, cans, cardboards, paper common, paper HL1 and PET (plastic material).

According to him, if we do not act now we are eventually going to run out of landfill space and places to build new landfills sites. By recycling, you are giving the used product a new life in being recycled into a new or different product altogether. Recycling turns material that would have become waste into precious resources.