A beginner's guide to recycling at home in Cape Town

Starting to recycle can feel confusing. Which plastics count? Do you rinse everything? What happens to it all afterwards? The good news is that recycling at home in Cape Town is far simpler than it looks. With a three-bin habit and a few minutes a week, any household can keep most of its waste out of landfill — and even earn from it.

Why recycle at all?

Cape Town generates millions of tonnes of waste a year, and the metro's landfills are running out of space. Burying recyclables wastes valuable material and money, and rotting organic waste releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Recycling keeps materials in use, supports thousands of livelihoods across the value chain, and aligns with the City of Cape Town's drive towards separation-at-source and a circular economy.

The three streams to remember

You don't need to memorise plastic codes to start. Think in three simple streams:

1. Paper & cardboard — newspaper, magazines, office paper, cereal boxes, flattened cartons.
2. Plastics, cans & glass — bottles, containers, beverage cans, food tins, glass jars.
3. Everything else — food scraps, nappies, polystyrene and dirty packaging, which still go to general waste (for now).

That's it. A "dry recyclables" bin and a "wet/general" bin already divert most of what a home throws away.

Setting up your system

• Pick two or three containers. Any boxes or reusable bags work — they don't need to be fancy.
• Keep them where the waste happens. A small bin in the kitchen catches the most.
• Label them. Clear labels mean the whole family sorts correctly.
• Rinse quickly. A splash of water to remove food residue is enough. Bottles and cans should be empty.
• Keep paper dry. Store it away from wet waste so it keeps its value.

What "clean" really means

Contamination is the number one enemy of recycling. A greasy pizza box, a yoghurt tub with food still inside, or a bag of recyclables that got wet can downgrade or spoil an entire load. You don't need surgical cleanliness — just empty, scrape and give a quick rinse. Dry is just as important as clean.

Where it goes from your bin

Once sorted, your recyclables have a few routes in Cape Town:

• Kerbside collection in areas served by the City's Think Twice programme or private collectors.
• Drop-off sites and garden-refuse facilities run by the City.
• Buyback centres like WasteGo Green, where you are paid by weight.
• Packa-Ching buyback days that come into communities.

From there, material is sorted by stream, baled, and sent to recyclers and mills where it becomes new bottles, boxes, cans and more.

Common questions

Do I need to remove labels and caps? No — recyclers handle labels, and caps can usually stay on plastic bottles. When in doubt, leave it on.

Are all plastics recyclable? Most rigid bottles and containers are. Soft film and bags are recyclable too if clean and dry. Polystyrene and multi-layer pouches are harder — check before adding them.

What about glass? Glass is endlessly recyclable. Keep bottles and jars whole and separate from other streams.

Make it pay

Here's the part many people miss: your recyclables have cash value. Instead of giving them away, you can bring them to a buyback centre or a Packa-Ching day and earn per kilogram. For many Cape Town families, that turns a chore into a small but real income — and for informal collectors, it is a livelihood.

Start this week

You don't have to be perfect. Begin with one extra bag for bottles and cans, and build from there. Within a month, sorting becomes automatic and your general-waste bin shrinks noticeably. To find your nearest drop-off or buyback point, or to arrange recycling for your complex, contact WasteGo Green — we'll help you get going.