After finishing high school, Stacey-Lee decided to head to the big city, where she studied psychology and criminology at Tuks. “After that, I moved to Cape Town where I had a brief stint in the yachting industry,” she says. “I was shocked by the vast amount of waste produced by the ultra-wealthy, with no concern for its environmental impact. This ignited my interest in waste management. When I returned to Cape Town, I participated in community work in the Masiphumelele Township and felt a strong urge to make a difference. Although I didn’t come from privilege, I knew that to help others, I first needed to help myself.”
In August 2021, Stacey-Lee visited her mum in Mbombela and asked her why she didn’t recycle. “She told me she didn’t even know what recycling was. That was my aha moment. After Covid, my perspective on life changed, and coming back to the Lowveld made me realise it was time to start my brainchild, Green Guru. I extended my stay by a month, conducted market research in the area, and by the end of October, my then-fiancé (now husband) and I packed up and moved back to the Lowveld. We haven’t looked back since.”
Green Guru started with Stacey-Lee and a single employee with a small bakkie. Today, there are seven full-time employees, a 4-tonne truck, and the original bakkie with a 4-metre trailer. “We now service some amazing businesses in the Lowveld that genuinely care about their environmental impact.” Green Guru Solutions is a conscious waste management company, servicing both residential and commercial sectors. “We provide weekly residential recycling collections in Mbombela and White River, and we offer on-site waste management for commercial businesses. Our services include waste separation, diversion and waste reporting.”
Stacey-Lee explains that after collecting the recyclables, they support existing supply chains that bale and transport the materials to Johannesburg for further processing. There the items are turned into new products such as buckets and dustbins. “Unfortunately, we don’t have any major local manufacturing plants (which presents a great opportunity for any new and interested entrepreneurs). The importance of an initiative like Green Guru is to educate individuals about waste separation. We are nearing maximum capacity at our second landfill, and as consumers, we need to take responsibility for how and where we dispose of our waste.” Green Guru Solutions not only wants to educate individuals, but also provide a solution by being your point of contact for all your waste management needs.
Making a difference is everyone’s responsibility, and small changes are a great place to start.
“There are two things I always tell people,” Stacey-Lee says. “The first is, when shopping, try to avoid packaged goods like bananas, which come in their own natural ‘packaging’. You don’t need to put them in a single-use plastic bag.
Take your own shopping bags or ask the store if they have a box for you – I love this about Food Lovers. The second is, if you don’t make use of a recycling service, at least get into the habit of having two bins at home – one for wet waste and one for dry waste. Put all your food waste into one bin and your dry waste into the other. This way, when it reaches the landfill, there’s a lower chance of contamination, and garbage pickers will have a better chance of recycling what can be recycled.”
The fact is that harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases are released from landfill sites, and at the current rate of waste disposal, we are rapidly running out of space. In South Africa alone, an estimated 122 million tonnes of waste are generated, but only 10% is recycled, leaving the remaining 90% to accumulate in landfills.
By reducing the need for new raw materials, we also decrease the deforestation, mining, farming and drilling that would otherwise damage ecosystems and harm wildlife. Additionally, by cutting down on energy use, landfill waste and incineration, we reduce pollution, lowering the release of greenhouse gases into the air and contaminants into the water.
