Advocating for Community Participation and Environmental Sustainability Through Waste Collection

Nomfundo Mkhaba is a 34 old woman from the South Coast, she is a member and co-founder of an organization called Waste for Change.  Nomfundo is also a member of Door to Door Foundation, a youth-led organization in Magabheni township that works with young people in communities.

Waste for Change is a non-profit organization still in its infancy stage, as they have acquired registration in 2019. Leading the way, having been co-founded by 3 young people, who share a common vision to contribute to environmental sustainability. One of the co-founders Nomfundo Mkhaba has initiated a campaign to segregate solid/domestic waste by collecting and classifying PET, PP, HD, Aluminium cans and K4 recyclables. Through the initiative, she has managed to build relationships with the local municipalities, community-based organisations, local schools, and other relevant stakeholders in the area.

Under Waste for Change, Nomfundo is involved in a number of litter pickup initiatives every Saturday, with the intention of speaking about health inequalities, reducing waste going into landfills, community participation, and advocating for environmental sustainability in low-income communities as the scope of the project focuses on low-income communities.

As a DDP Associate Facilitator, Nomfundo was able to assist 30 families with food parcels and also assist more than 30 young people with short term employment.

“We are currently working with Petco who have supplied bags to collect PET bottles, through initiating the campaign I was also chosen as part of the Takano fellowship programme and through my social change initiative I hope to address environmental structural barriers on human life in low-income communities”, she said.

She added that all the initiatives she is involved in are a result of the work that she has done with DDP and Door to Door Foundation.