Older reclaimers work without toilets or running water at Free State landfill

By Thabang Thembani, Health-e News

At 58, Tankiso Khamadi continues to collect recyclable waste at the Nyakallong landfill in the Free State despite struggling with respiratory problems and being treated for tuberculosis (TB) last year.

Khamadi is among a group of mostly older reclaimers who say they work at the landfill without running water, toilets or security.

The group of older reclaimers told Health-e News they need the additional income to supplement their social grants, which they say is not enough to survive on. Some receive an Older Persons Grant of R2600 a month, while others receive a R370 Social Relief of Distress grant.

In smaller townships like Nyakallong, reclaimers face lower local buying prices from middlemen, fewer corporate waste streams, and severe environmental obstacles. The majority of waste pickers earn between R300 and R600 a week.

“If the Matjhabeng Municipality could remember that there is a landfill site in Nyakallong and elderly people are working there to pick waste for cash to feed and maintain their families, maybe they could mitigate safety and health harms that occur in the landfill site,” he says.

Khamadi has worked as a reclaimer since 2015. In March last year, he was admitted to Thusanong Lejweleputswa District Hospital after experiencing severe breathing problems.

He says he was diagnosed with TB and recently completed six months of treatment. He now uses an inhaler for asthma.

“I have to use it if I still value my life,” he says.

No toilets or running water

Elizabeth Mthombeni, 62, who has hypertension, started collecting recyclables at the landfill in 2024. She says conditions at the site have deteriorated.

The reclaimers collect paper, plastic bottles, cardboard and other recyclable material that they sell to support themselves and their families. Mthombeni says they now have to bring their own drinking water and there are no toilets at the site.

“We have to bring our own water for drinking, especially for our medication because we are old now,” Mthombeni says.

The lack of security is another concern. Mthombeni says reclaimers worry that the material they have collected will be stolen if they leave it at the landfill. Some take their collections home instead.

Waste pickers’ association steps in

Dingaan Mohapi, Free State provincial coordinator of the South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA), visited the Nyakallong landfill and says he found an unfenced site where reclaimers’ collected material was exposed to theft.

He is particularly concerned that many of the reclaimers working there were older people.

Mohapi says SAWPA plans to register the Nyakallong reclaimers as members so they can be included in the organisation’s advocacy work.

Councillors promise action

Ward councillors Paseka Ramatisa and Clement Hanisi acknowledge concerns about conditions at the landfill.

They told Health-e News they would engage Matjhabeng Municipality’s waste and refuse department as well as the reclaimers to find ways to improve conditions at the site.

Matjhabeng Municipality did not respond to questions from Health-e News by the time of publication.

Khamadi says he will continue collecting recyclables to earn an income. He says his R370 Social Relief of Distress grant is not enough to survive. Khamadi says he also helps support the household he shares with his younger sister and her children.

Source: Read the original report at Health-e News.