The saying goes that one man's trash is another man's treasure. This is very literally the case at the waste dumps near Musina, where trash collectors try to eke out a living by recycling plastic and glass. Not much "treasure" to be found, but it keeps them alive.
On the morning of Monday, 23 January, Innocent Mwenewazvo was busy stacking empty plastic bottles into a heap, while his wife collected some more plastic products and empty soda cans for recycling from the spot where they usually find these items.
Mwenewazvo and his wife are among the many Zimbabweans who make a living through recycling. Some of them have been doing recycling at the Beitbridge Border Post (on the Zimbabwean side) since 2017, but eventually decided to relocate to South Africa instead as they claim business is more viable here than in Zimbabwe. In the past, after they had collected their empty containers, they had to carry everything to the South African side to sell it to the waste buyers. Now they do not have to go to the trouble anymore.
Most of these waste pickers sleep under makeshift shelters made from cardboard boxes and plastic materials. They take almost two weeks to collect a mere 50kg of empty cans or plastic bottles, which are then sold to South African buyers. To anyone else, this may seem like a lot of trouble for little reward, but to them, this has been their way of living for years. It gives them a purpose - staying alive.
"There is more waste to collect on the South African side at Beitbridge than on the Zimbabwean side," said Mwenewazvo. The waste-picking business, he says, is normally at its peak on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, when Zimbabweans travel to South Africa in large numbers to do their shopping. "We are not usually busy on a Sunday. This is the day when we crush empty cans and heap them all in one place, so that we are ready whenever buyers come," said Mwenewazvo.
Collen Marimo (43) is a father of three. He told Limpopo Mirror that he used to work as a garden boy back in Harare, Zimbabwe, but he lost his job two years ago. "After losing my job, I decided to start collecting waste materials at Beitbridge (on the Zimbabwean side). This is the only means of putting food on the table for my family back home."
Marimo says he is praying to be formally employed again in Zimbabwe one day.