Searching for the missing middle: exploring the ‘bakkie collectors’ in South Africa’s waste value chain

Abstract

This article reports on the first quantitative study on bakkie collectors operating in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The study aimed to understand how these micro-entrepreneurs facilitate the collection, transportation and sale of recyclable waste materials, while examining their socio-economic contributions, challenges, and the broader impact of their activities on informal waste pickers, informal and formal buy-back centres and the formal recycling systems. An exploratory cross-sectional study was selected to investigate the role and activities of bakkie collectors in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria (grouped together into the Gauteng region). This study makes a significant contribution toward understanding a previously under-researched segment of South Africa’s recycling value chain. The results show that bakkie collectors play a vital intermediary role, connecting informal waste pickers to buy-back centres, generating livelihoods for themselves and their assistants, waste pickers and community members, and diverting waste from landfills. Despite this, the sector operates largely without formal recognition or support.