The amount of pollution in cities and urban environments, such as Pretoria, has become quite immense. People, in general, have little to no regard for the type of waste being thrown in the garbage bins. Lucky for us, we have informal recyclers, or the bagarezi (a Setswana word and local name for this group of people) sorting through our waste, collecting recyclable products, such as plastics, cans and other materials, from the garbage bins. According to a study done by the CSIR in Pretoria, it is estimated that the bagarezi recycle up to 90% of South Africa’s plastic and packaging materials. Although these recyclers have become a part of our daily lives, they do not have a dedicated space and system to collect, sort, and sell their finds. They currently occupy spaces along major feeding routes, disregarding the nature being destroyed for them to get their processes up and running.

Should a facility be designed and run by sustainable means of energy collection, water reticulation, and waste management, the facility should make sufficient provisions to become self-sustainable in day-to-day operations. However, sustainable technology and aids come at a more significant and higher price, making it more reliant on the technology to improve and become more affordable.
How can we, as environmental designers, aid these recyclers, and in turn, nature, to give them a dedicated space and system to bring their recycled materials to, sort it, and sell it back to the recycling companies?

How can a facility become self-sustainable in terms of energy gathering and water collection?

How would such a facility become the preferred site for recyclable materials to be either sold, gathered and be used as the middleman between the informal recyclers and the recycling companies?

The statement of intent for the above-mentioned research questions would be answered through the help of desktop research for the more technical aspects of the construction, site analysis and types of recycled materials. As for the facility’s day-to-day running, the research was based on a mixture between desktop research and questionnaires sent out to the public surrounding the area in which the design is proposed to be designed.