Investigating the economic relationship between buy-back centres and plastic waste recycling entrepreneurs

Abstract

Persistently high unemployment level and rate remains as one of South Africa‟s most serious social and economic problems. Over the years, entrepreneurship has been identified as one of the main vehicles to create jobs and alleviate poverty. South Africa is one of the finest plastic recyclers in the world with almost 50% of plastics used as inputs come from recycled plastics (Plastics SA, 2019). This presents an opportunity: Buy-back centres (BBCs) in the waste management industry have proven to be economically feasible with many of these centres employing people and profiting from selling recyclable materials to recyclers. Focusing on the Western Cape, in 2019, the province generated about 150 000 tonnes of plastics with the market value estimated at between R474 and R632 million per year.