Waste turns to wealth at Katutura hub

The Katutura Waste Buyback Centre has attracted over 9 500 vendors since opening last year, promoting recycling, income generation and sustainable waste management.

City of Windhoek spokesperson Lydia Amutenya says the centre has attracted approximately 9 587 vendors since last September.

The initiative was launched to promote recycling and sustainable waste management, she says.

“To date, the centre has diverted over 90 tonnes of recyclables from the landfill, reflecting strong community interest and participation.

“The City of Windhoek has spent N$817 995.57 on paying residents for recyclables at the centre,” Amutenya says.

Beyond its core role of providing residents and informal waste collectors with a platform to sell recyclables, the centre has also become a sustainability hub, where pupils from different schools and representatives from other municipalities come to learn about responsible waste management practices, Amutenya says.

She says the centre’s growing role is not only to reduce waste, but also to educate and help with long-term behavioural change in attaining a cleaner and more sustainable Windhoek.

The community response has been described as encouraging, with a steady number of households, schools and groups actively participating in selling their waste to the centre.

The quantity of waste differs from person to person and is also influenced by the time of the month and the distance from the buyback centre, Amutenya says.

While the Katutura Waste Buyback Centre has shown promising results within its first year of operation, it is difficult to attribute overall city cleanliness solely to this project.

This is because other waste management systems, such as litter picking, the mayoral clean-up campaign, the skip container system, and the wheelie bin system, are simultaneously and actively implemented by the city’s Solid Waste Management Division.

Amutenya says the centre has played an important complementary role by diverting recyclable materials from the landfill site.

She says the centre will continue to expand its operations, with a second waste buyback centre to be constructed at Okuryangava before the end of this year.

The highest number of vendors recorded was during last October, with 1 809, and the lowest in April this year, with 350.

One of the employees at the centre describes Mondays as the busiest day at the hub.

“Usually residents collect more recyclables over the weekend and come to sell it on Monday,” he says.

Vendor Willem Lambert (34) says he sometimes earns N$150 in one day, and that he returns to the centre on some days.

“This is like home to me. I am here every week, nearly every day, to sell recyclables I collect from the streets – mostly plastic cooldrink bottles and papers,” he says.

Lambert says since the centre’s inception last year, he has been surviving on selling waste to the city.

The centre was established by the City of Windhoek council in partnership with the European Union and the city of Bremen, aiming to reduce waste, promote recycling and create an income for residents by paying them for sorted recyclable materials.

The centre operates from Monday to Friday from 07h30 to 16h30 and on Saturdays from 08h00 to 13h00.

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