How this waste collector repurposed her life through a recycling app

Everyone deserves a clean start. Following years of substance abuse and homelessness, Andiswa Lephuting is now a recycling champion. “I had to turn my life around to support my children,” she says. On Fridays, she dons a green work suit and rides a customised tricycle around the township of Tambo Village in Cape Town collecting recyclables. In this neighbourhood, gangsterism and unemployment are rife. But Lephuting joined the recycling startup Regenize to uplift herself. Through their app, she connects with her community members and spurs them on to care for their surroundings. Hailed as the ‘Recycling Lady', Lephuting has turned the streets into a place of empowerment. “Waste collectors make a big difference in our communities,” she says. 

When a fellow recycler and friend introduced her to Regenize, Lephuting grabbed the opportunity with both hands and began working. The initiative was founded by Chad Robertson and Nkazimlo Miti, and uses the power of the internet and recycling to elevate communities. Regenize furnishes their recyclers with smartphones preinstalled with the Remali app. This allows them to access households in their community who have signed up to the service. “I am connected with people who want to recycle with us,” Lephuting says. When users collect recyclables in their own homes and hand them over, they earn points which can be redeemed at local shops in exchange for food, airtime, and electricity. 

Lephuting’s leadership and dedication has encouraged more people to start preserving their environment and steer away from crime. She is currently working with three young people at her waste picking station whom she pays out of her own pocket. “Recycling is bringing us together,” Lephuting says. After school, kids lend her a helping hand while she teaches them about her job. Through recycling, she is not only advancing her community, but reviving her purpose in life. “I now have a chance to make a living,” she says.