J&K Recycling provides a vital waste removal service
For the past six years, Cornaphia Serabele and his team of helpers have collected plastic, paper and cardboard from Selecta Sea Products, a fish processing factory located in the Philippi industrial area outside Cape Town.
J&K Recycling visits the factory premises three times per week. With agile hands and keen eyes, the recycling team quickly sorts through the waste generated by the plant, separating materials that can be recycled – especially plastic and cardboard – from general waste. By doing so, J&K diverts large quantities of solid waste away from Cape Town’s landfill sites and into recycling plants.
Owner and manager of J&K Recycling, Cornaphia Serabele, says that acquiring Selecta Sea Products as a client, was a turning point in his business.
“Selecta was not my first customer, but it was the biggest one,” he says.
In relating how he secured the business of Selecta Sea Products, Serabele emphasises the importance of “keeping your eyes open” for business opportunities.
“One day I passed Selecta and I saw a lot of waste outside, because the bins were outside the factory,” he relates. “I saw the plastic and the boxes lying there and I asked the security if I could talk to one of the managers. They agreed that I could take the waste away.”
Initially, Serabele was not paid for his services – he earned money from the sale of recyclable materials. But after a year, the relationship between the two companies was formalized and today J&K Recycling invoices for the regular removal of waste from the factory premises, while continuing to earn money from the sale of recyclables.
Since J&K Recycling began its partnership with Selecta Sea Products, the recycler has taken on more and bigger clients and registered as a recycling company with the City of Cape Town. At the same time, the company has grown significantly. Today, J&K Recycling employs nine people and operates a fleet of three vehicles.
J&J Recycling operates in all weathers, providing a vital service that keeps businesses and the environment clean, and waste materials out of landfill sites. Its work helps to reduce energy used in the production of virgin materials, and lower the harmful emissions, especially methane, that are generated by landfill sites.
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