The City of Cape Town’s new recyclable exchange platform has been upgraded and is already connecting a number of businesses who now make use of each other’s waste products.

The Integrated Waste Exchange (IWEX) service, which is now smoother, sleeker, and more user-friendly, is a free online system that serves as a platform to connect residents in possession of excess waste material with others who have good use for it.

The new-look system, which features options such as uploading photos, encourages entities like schools, communities and businesses to exchange waste, allowing them to save on costs and reduce their waste footprint.

While users can elect to make direct contact with each other independently by browsing listed contact details, there is also the option of doing so through the IWEX system.

This has the added benefit of allowing the City to monitor the rate, number, and type of transactions, which provides valuable data.

Companies leading the charge

Some companies have already successfully used the service to develop happy symbioses, such as international law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyer who linked up with local plastics recycler Westek for a fortnightly collection of plastic milk bottles from their canteen.

Another example is Clover Mama Africa, a community project that creates useful items from fabric off-cuts, who connected with CapeStorm, an adventure clothing brand, for the ongoing supply of some of their raw materials.

“These days’ people find all kinds of reasons to connect over the internet. It has proven itself to be the fastest and most efficient platform for bringing people and services together,” says Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services.

“It makes perfect sense to provide a convenient bridge to allow one person’s garbage to become another’s gold. The City is constantly looking for ways to reduce volumes of waste sent to landfill sites, and if there is the added benefit of an economic leg up to another party then all the more reason to facilitate those opportunities. It is a true example of a win-win scenario,” Sonnenberg concludes