Podcast episode: Waste Not Want Not

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• Waste pickers like 19-year-old Aphiwe Vilakazi quietly keep South Africa’s recycling system alive — without pay from the city.
• They divert millions of tons of recyclables from landfills, saving municipalities millions of rand each year.
• Despite their impact, the work remains informal, dangerous, and deeply undervalued.
• Radio Workshop produced a podcast episode in Durban on Aphiwe, highlighting the hidden labour of waste pickers.

Behind an unmarked door at a busy shopping mall in Durban, 19-year-old Aphiwe is knee-deep in cardboard boxes. She grabs a box, tears the edges, flattens it, and tosses it onto a growing pile. When the stack reaches five feet high — almost as tall as she is — it’s ready to be sold. For Aphiwe, every box is more than trash. It’s money for food, transport, and medicine for her family.

“Waste pickers are environmental workers, caregivers, and entrepreneurs all at once, yet they remain largely unrecognised. Aphiwe’s story shows us how ‘invisible labour’ sustains entire systems. It asks us to rethink what, and who, we value.”

— Lesedi Mogoathle

Aphiwe works at The Workshop, a large shopping mall in the coastal city of Durban. It’s a 30-minute commute from Inanda, the township where she lives with her grandmother and two siblings. While shoppers browse through over 90 stores, Aphiwe works behind the scenes, separating cardboard, paper, plastic, and aluminium. She just finished high school and is already the sole breadwinner for her household.

Her work places her among an estimated 20 million waste pickers worldwide. In South Africa alone, more than 50,000 waste pickers divert recyclables away from landfills, extending landfill life, reducing emissions, and supporting the recycling economy — all without formal recognition or pay from municipalities.

Waste picking is a family business for Aphiwe. When she was a little girl, her grandmother, Mam Maria, taught her how to make and sell small cardboard bundles. Mam Maria has been picking waste for more than a decade. She sees it as a practical skill everyone should learn.

“I don’t like to see someone lying there. I say, please wake up, do this, and then you’ll get money.” — Mam Maria

When Mam Maria fell ill in 2025, Aphiwe stepped into her grandmother’s shoes—literally. She wears her old uniform and has taken on the responsibility of providing for her family.

Waste picking is essential, but undervalued. Aphiwe earns about 500 rand a week, less than $30, negotiating fluctuating prices with recycling buyers.

“Some buyers have favorable costs, and some buyers don’t. And in some instances, you find that waste pickers do a lot more than what they earn.” — Asiphile Khanyile (groundWork Friends of the Earth South Africa)

Environmental justice organisations say waste pickers are South Africa’s most effective recyclers, recovering up to 80% of recycled plastic packaging and paper. According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, their work saves municipalities between 300 and 750 million rand in landfill costs each year. That’s about 18 to 45 million U.S dollars. And yet, the labour remains informal, dangerous, and largely invisible.

Aphiwe has had to grow up very quickly. Every day, she wakes up and braves the dangers of the job because her family depends on her.

“I think about what would happen to my siblings, my brother and sister, if I were not working… they will need money.” — Aphiwe

This episode and the work of Radio Workshop would not be possible without the support of the UMIFund. Special thanks to Hindenburg for supporting our projects across Africa with audio editing software.