Sifiso Gumbi, a former waste picker, founded Urban Surfer to improve conditions for South Africa’s informal reclaimers. He started collecting recyclables in Soweto at 19, eventually building a buyback centre before partnering with two collaborators who saw brand potential in supporting reclaimers with proper trolleys, training and protective equipment.

Sifiso describes Urban Surfer’s flagship project in Parktown, where eight long-term reclaimers were given a formal facility to sort and store waste — complete with individual compartments, a solar baling machine, and a self-drafted contract — rather than being evicted from informal camps. He explains how baling has lifted reclaimers’ monthly earnings from roughly R1,000 to R4,000–R8,500, helped by a “zero cost” corporate waste collection model funded through extended producer responsibility fees from bodies like Polyco and Fibre Circle.

He speaks candidly about the intimidation and theft reclaimers face from law enforcement during raids, distinguishes the majority of hardworking reclaimers from a minority struggling with addiction, and describes plans to replicate the hub model across Gauteng and beyond — while noting government’s main contribution needed is simply access to land.

Sifiso closes with practical advice for listeners—separate recyclables for waste pickers—and encourages aspiring changemakers to start despite the obstacles, drawing inspiration from reclaimers’ resilience.

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Behind the Conversation

by Babette Gallard

Unseen, but Essential

When I first came to South Africa, waste pickers were simply part of the background. I saw, but I didn’t really see them. Meeting Sifiso Gumbi changed that.

Waste pickers are often treated as a problem to be removed. What struck me most during our conversation was how easily that could change. Sifiso spoke about practical solutions rather than grand ones: somewhere to sort recyclable material, somewhere to store it, somewhere safe to stay, and the simple dignity of being recognised for the work they already do.

Watching the Urban Surfer team, I realised this wasn’t just a story about recycling. It was about people who turn up every day, with little security and few resources, quietly doing work that benefits all of us.

It felt important to tell that story properly because, once you’ve seen it, you can’t really unsee it.

Watch Sifiso show us around the Parktown site in Johannesburg Unseen but Essential