Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 6: Down at <strong>the</strong> dumpsThe main work force on <strong>the</strong> dump is in fact <strong>the</strong> 100 or so pickers on site. When Loatearrived at Palm Springs, <strong>the</strong> pickers were living in shacks around <strong>the</strong> site and <strong>the</strong>irchildren picked with <strong>the</strong>m. The shacks are now gone. Loate says he organised newaccommodation in RDP houses for <strong>the</strong> people who lived <strong>the</strong>re. He also institutedrules for waste picking. Nobody is allowed to climb onto <strong>the</strong> trucks. Children are notallowed on <strong>the</strong> dump and Loate says this is enforced by <strong>the</strong> pickers <strong>the</strong>mselves. Theyalso prevent new settlement in <strong>the</strong> area.As recounted in Box 21, <strong>the</strong> pickers do not always follow <strong>the</strong> rules but Loate hasdemonstrated real sympathy with <strong>the</strong>m and <strong>the</strong>y appear to accept his authority withoutreservation. The changes that he has introduced have two purposes: to improve <strong>the</strong>irworking conditions and to regulate <strong>the</strong>ir activities. All <strong>the</strong> pickers are registered andgiven identity cards for display. They are organised into groups of women, youngwomen, men and young men, who are allowed to pick waste from incoming vehicles atset times to ensure equal access to materials. The allocation of space in <strong>the</strong> salvage yardis now being organised on <strong>the</strong> same basis. Municipal trucks are provided to transportcollected materials to buyers, resulting in major savings and improved incomes for<strong>the</strong> pickers. Loate was also concerned to reduce <strong>the</strong> number of people on site. He<strong>the</strong>refore negotiated with local mall managers and organised a group of pickers fromPalm Springs to sort and recycle waste at <strong>the</strong> malls.Muscling in on <strong>the</strong> pickings at SasolburgAcross <strong>the</strong> Vaal River, <strong>the</strong> management of <strong>the</strong> Sasolburg dump is at once more remoteand less benign. This case study, researched by Melanie Samson and presented in full ina report for groundWork focusing specifically on reclaimers [Samson 2008a], recounts<strong>the</strong> history of a struggle for control over <strong>the</strong> surplus of recycling from <strong>the</strong> dump. Itshows both <strong>the</strong> pickers’ initiative to organise <strong>the</strong>mselves and how local elites, backedby Sasol itself, muscled in on <strong>the</strong> profits.The Sasolburg dump is hemmed in and dwarfed by Sasol’s industrial dumps – <strong>the</strong>mountainous ash heap, <strong>the</strong> geometrically engineered effluent dam and a series of threetar pits which are soon to be relocated. The dump was started in 1951, at <strong>the</strong> sametime as Sasolburg itself. It is not permitted and has no lining. The Integrated WasteManagement Plan produced for <strong>the</strong> municipality says that it receives 51 tonnes of wastea day [Metsimaholo 2008: 51]. Metsimaholo waste manager Johann Labuschagneestimates that, with industrial waste included, <strong>the</strong> figure is closer to 90 tonnes of<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 167 -