Help save Cape Town's rapidly filling landfills - in your own home and at no cost! By using the City's free household rubbish recycling service, Think Twice (before you throw away!), you can save about two kilograms of rubbish per day. At the moment, up to 80% is unnecessarily sent to the City's three remaining landfills in Coastal Park, Vissershok and Bellville South.

How Think Twice benefits Cape Town

Although a new regional landfill has been planned to supplement Cape Town's landfills, this is more than 40 kilometres further away than the current sites, and the increased distance will increase waste disposal costs considerably. Think Twice, which was launched as a project in November 2007 has been extended to many areas and diverted thousands of kilograms of waste away from landfill.

Think Twice also helps prevent the carbon emissions that are generated in making items from new raw materials. It also boosts employment in the recycling industry and provides many of the raw materials that are used in manufacturing. Resin Roof Tiles, for example, uses the plastic that computer monitors are made from to manufacture South African National Standards (SANS) approved roof tiles.

How it works

In the existing participating areas, the Think Twice contractors issue partaking households with a clear bag for the separation of their dry waste from wet waste. In August 2011 the project expanded to the northern suburbs of Cape Town, and these residents north of the N1 received a green-lid 140l recycling bin for their recycling.

Those using bags:
Those using bags simply throw their clear bags filled with dry waste (clean and dry paper, cardboard, plastics, food containers, bottles, tins and glasses) in the upper part of the normal black bin, on the usual collection day. (Dry waste must be clean and dry. Caps from containers should be removed and plastics bottles flattened.)
All other waste that is not dry (wet paper and food waste) should be placed in the lower portion of the bin. Garden refuse (leaves and grass cuttings) should be taken to the nearest drop-off site.

Those using green-lid 140l recycling bins:
Those who have successfully registered at a Municipal Walk-in Centre will be issued a green-lid 140l recycling bin. Once they have received the bin recycling can begin, making sure all the recyclables are dry, clean and flat. The bin must be taken out for collection the day after normal refuse collection day. This will be collected at no cost. (Residents whose normal collection day is a Friday will receive this additional recyclable collection service on a Monday.)

For more information on the Think Twice north of N1, contact 021 970 3053 during office hours (08:00 to 16:00), WastePlan on 0861 116 699 or visit www.wasteplan.co.za. 

Think Twice contractors collect the recyclable waste from the City and take it to a materials recovery facility for reprocessing and re-using.

Click here for what can and can’t be recycled.

Current areas of participation

Click here for a map of the participating areas