Pick n Pay’s initiative to employ disabled staff for e-waste management

SOUTH AFRICA – Retailer Pick n Pay has introduced newly designed electronic waste (e-waste) bins in select stores across Cape Town, aiming to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Through specialized training in repairing, refurbishing, and recycling e-waste, these bins will play a significant role in empowering disabled individuals.

The initiative is part of an enterprise development program supported by the National Economic Empowerment for the Disabled (NEED).

As Pick n Pay rolls out 210 new e-waste bins nationwide, the program stands to benefit significantly.

This move comes as South Africa faces ongoing challenges in e-waste management. According to WasteAid, the country generates about 360,000 tonnes of e-waste annually, with Gauteng accounting for approximately 55% of this total.

Globally, e-waste is growing rapidly, with around 50 million tonnes produced yearly, equivalent to discarding 432 laptops daily.

The new e-waste bins, designed to hold items ranging from cables and kettles to mobile phones and large appliances like washing machines, represent a significant expansion of Pick n Pay’s original e-waste program.

Initially launched over 15 years ago, focusing on light bulbs and batteries, the program has grown considerably.

In collaboration with EWaste Africa and the E-Waste Recycling Authority (ERA), Pick n Pay has already installed 33 new e-waste bins in stores, with plans to add 90 more by the end of the year and complete the rollout by mid-2025.

These bins are expected to collect 1,000 tonnes of e-waste annually, equivalent to the weight of a large cargo ship.

EWaste Africa is responsible for collecting and delivering e-waste to legally licensed recycling facilities, where the waste is depolluted and the clean, processed materials are repurposed into new products, such as housing blocks.

Items that cannot be repaired are sent to ERA-affiliated service providers, where valuable materials are extracted.

ERA and EWaste Africa prioritize manual dismantling to maximize job creation, with the pilot project based at the Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled in Bridgetown.

The initiative showcases how the e-waste value chain can unlock job opportunities while reducing harmful waste in landfills.

Funded by ERA, the program is becoming increasingly self-sustainable as repaired items are resold, ensuring zero e-waste delivered to the program ends up in landfills.

So far, 65 individuals, many of whom are disabled, have participated in the program, learning to dismantle, repair, and refurbish e-waste.

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