Church member's passion for recycling pays off

Discarded items are sorted for recycling at the Big Start Recycling and Buy Centre in Durban, South Africa. United Methodist Thozeka Letuka opened the business to help clean up the environment and create economic opportunities for her neighbors. Photo courtesy of Big Start.
Discarded items are sorted for recycling at the Big Start Recycling and Buy Centre in Durban, South Africa. United Methodist Thozeka Letuka opened the business to help clean up the environment and create economic opportunities for her neighbors. Photo courtesy of Big Start.

Key points:

  • United Methodist woman opens buyback center to clean up the environment and empower members of her South African community.
  • At recycling buyback centers, individuals sell used or recyclable materials, contributing to waste reduction and environmental conservation.
  • Employees of Big Start Recycling and Buy Centre have shared personal stories of transformation, highlighting how the initiative provided them with a sense of purpose and hope for the future.

A United Methodist woman is combining her passion for recycling with her faith to empower youth and women in her community.

Through a recycling buyback initiative, Thozeka Letuka provides opportunities to clean up the environment and provide income and meaningful employment to members of her local community in Durban. Her company, Big Start Recycling and Buy Centre, helps transform discarded items into valuable resources.

“I saw a huge gap on illegal dumping in my area,” Letuka said. “I approached local authorities and asked for a piece of land to establish an exchange center for recycling.” 

Recycling buyback centers are facilities or locations where individuals can return used or recyclable materials in exchange for payment, contributing to waste reduction and environmental conservation.

“Sorting waste can benefit everyone,” she said. “Durban Solid Waste spends so much money transporting waste to landfill sites.”

Discarded items are sorted for recycling at the Big Start Recycling and Buy Centre in Durban, South Africa. United Methodist Thozeka Letuka opened the business to help clean up the environment and create economic opportunities for her neighbors. Photo courtesy of Big Start.
Discarded items are sorted for recycling at the Big Start Recycling and Buy Centre in Durban, South Africa. United Methodist Thozeka Letuka opened the business to help clean up the environment and create economic opportunities for her neighbors. Photo courtesy of Big Start.

Thanks to Letuka, people are learning how to sort their waste from home and take it to the recycling center.

“With so much unemployment, residents can actually earn an income from waste. We want to encourage all communities to recycle,” Letuka said in a 2022 article spotlighting her work in the local Highway Mail.

Prevalent in South African communities, the centers play a crucial role by encouraging the collection and recovery of materials that can be reused, repurposed or recycled. Materials collected include beverage containers, plastic, electronics and scrap metal. 

Letuka’s husband, the Rev. Thabiso Letuka, is the South Africa Annual Conference lay servants director, as well as the Big Start managing director and business partner.

“I was incredibly passionate about my wife's idea,” he said, “but lacked time to be hands-on because of my pastoral work. It was very challenging balancing the two when I was conducting my pastoral work on a full-time appointment.”

Subscribe to our
e-newsletter

Like what you're reading and want to see more? Sign up for our free daily and weekly digests of important news and events in the life of The United Methodist Church.

Keep me informed!

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, found him in “a state of perplexity and doubt of what tomorrow shall bring,” he said. No longer working full time in church ministry, he now manages Big Start.

Big Start Recycling and Buy Centre also offers consulting services, skills development, quality management and specialized training for cooperatives and waste management.

“We are educating most institutions, including universities, churches, (college) students and graduates,” he explained.

The center also has contributed to positive changes in the community, steering unemployed youth away from drug abuse and crime. Employees of Big Start have shared personal stories of transformation, highlighting how the initiative provided them with a sense of purpose and hope for the future.

“My mother used to collect and sell waste to Big Start,” said Bheki Kotsoana, now a Big Start employee. “I was unemployed and like other youth in our township, I used to resort to consuming alcohol and smoking. However, after seeing how well my mother was doing in her job, I took her advice to seek a job where she was working. I have now been promoted to data capture, and I have hope for my future.”

Nomnikelo Satshi is another Big Start employee.

“Mama Thozeka and her team visited our church,” Satshi said. “The United Methodist gave us talks on environmental issues. I became very interested and immediately started cleaning our rivers and land.

“Every day, I collect about 80 bags, and I am making money. My life has changed, and I can now feed my family.”

Thozeka Letuka has received several local awards for her environmental work.

Despite setbacks, including the high cost of hiring trucks for waste collection, Letuka remains committed to her vision of creating a waste-free community and promoting sustainable employment through recycling initiatives.

Makunike is the director of communications for the South Africa Conference of The United Methodist Church.

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
Disaster Relief
Emma Asores (right) and Romuel “Dojoe” Flores walk among idled fishing boats in the Mozon II neighborhood in Rosario, Philippines. Typhoon Carina caused three oil tankers to sink in July, prompting the government to ban fishing in villages around Manila Bay. The United Methodist Church distributed rice to affected families in Tanza and Rosario in Cavite Province. Asores heads the women’s organization in Mozon II and Flores is a consultant with the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s International Disaster Response unit. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Filipino United Methodists help fishing communities

After a typhoon and oil spill, church leaders joined with UMCOR and the local disaster response office to distribute rice and help combat climate change in coastal areas.
Theology and Education
Student Tanaka Chamburuka is surrounded by proud teachers and family after winning the top academic prize for his grade level at Seke 1 High School in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. From left are teacher Brenda Chawanji; Sarudzai Chamburuka, Tanaka’s mother; Tanaka; and teacher Rita Gondo. The United Methodist Church in the Chitungwiza Marondera District provided prizes for top students in memory of church member Esnath Ginnah Kadenge, a longtime English teacher at the school. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Teacher’s legacy creates church, school partnership

United Methodists help Zimbabwe school revive awards ceremony with gifts donated in memory of former teacher and church member.
Global Health
Pierre Kenga (not pictured) traveled more than 80 kilometers from the village of Dikwadjondo in Sankuru province to the United Methodist-affiliated Tunda General Hospital in Tunda, Congo, with his wife (seated) and his sister (lying down). The hospital is attracting more patients from distant regions. Photo by Chadrack Tambwe Londe, UM News.

Hospital provides beacon of hope in Eastern Congo

Thanks to new buildings and equipment, Tunda General Hospital attracts patients from far and wide, bringing care to a remote region.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2024 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved