In 2017, with just R300 to spare and driven by the unemployment challenges in his Orange Farm community, Tumelo Morolo launched a small recycling business.

Today, Morolo Recycling has scaled up to serve around 1,500 households from two sites – and diverted an impressive 600 tonnes of recyclables from landfill last year.

Tumelo Morolo is just one of many such sustainability champions countrywide who’ve been spotlighted with the announcement of the annual Petco Awards, where he earned the Entrepreneur of the Year accolade.

This year, one of the country’s top sustainability awards recognises 10 winners across eight categories, and celebrates the achievements of those who have made extraordinary contributions to the collection and recycling industry in South Africa – often against the odds.

The line-up also features one of South Africa’s longest-running separation-at-source projects – the women-led Shomang Sebenzani Development Initiative. ‘Ma’ Francina’ Rammabi and her team of around 50 have been operating in Alexandra township and surrounding areas since 2013, servicing 1,800 households daily and reaching almost 19,000 learners through recycling swap-shop programmes at local schools, which earned them the Kerbside Collection and Sorting Superhero title.

Returning to the honours list for a second time is former Top Woman in Recycling, Lisa Steenkamp, who scooped the Level Up category, which honours projects or businesses that have previously received equipment or training from Petco and leveraged that support to catapult their businesses to the next level.

Since receiving this support, Steenkamp has grown her Roodepoort-based Westworld Recycling into one of the biggest recycling hubs in Gauteng – increasing PET collection volumes from 1.7 million kilograms in 2022 to more than 2.1 million kilograms in 2025. Westworld employs 44 permanent staff, and trades with a network of up to 300 waste pickers a day.

“These awards matter because they show what’s actually happening on the ground, done by real people, in communities across South Africa,” said Petco marketing manager Kara Rohleder.

“Hopefully, they encourage consumers to participate in recycling and inspire others to start similar initiatives in the communities in which they live and work.”

According to Rohleder, the organisation established the awards in 2015 to recognise excellence in reuse, recycling and waste minimisation when it comes to packaging.

As one of the country’s longest standing producer responsibility organisations, she said Petco’s main objective was to fulfil its member companies’ Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations – as legislated by government. 

“One of the ways we do this is by supporting the collection and recycling value chain, to ensure that our members’ post-consumer packaging gets collected for recycling, and doesn’t end up in landfill or the environment,” explained Rohleder.

“Beyond fulfilling these EPR obligations, Petco aims to foster a truly circular and inclusive economy by strengthening small businesses and developing the informal sector.”

Sharing the Level Up award with Steenkamp is Jola Family Solutions, which also used Petco’s support to expand its operations from a bakkie-based, backyard collection business into a formal business with two collection sites in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal.

A turning point for owner Lindokuhle Zulu was when Petco sponsored a trailer, weighing scale, and personal protective equipment. This additional capacity significantly improved efficiency, allowing for more consistent collections.​

In 2025, Jola Family Solutions collected 120 tonnes of recyclable packaging, but​ the impact extends beyond volumes. The business employs 14 young people and supports more than 70 individuals through the buy-back centre, creating income opportunities within the community.​

Also making an impact in their communities are Indaloyami Trading and Dada Waste Management, whose work in the Environmental Education and Awareness category collectively reached over 60 000 people, and saw them sharing the award.

For Dada, what started as an effort to address illegal dumping in Johannesburg has evolved into a structured environmental education, awareness, and recycling programme working across 45 schools, clean-ups, businesses, and community spaces.

​Indaloyami, led by Lucas Dlomo, has formal recycling education and collection agreements with 26 schools in Vaalpark, Sasolburg, and Zamdela, with growing interest from schools in neighbouring municipalities.

In the Responsible Packaging Design category, packaging producer Mpact claimed the prize for its efforts with customer Highveld Honey to switch their bottle from PVC to a user-friendly bottle made from PET, which is more widely collected for recycling in South Africa. The environmental impact has reduced PVC usage at Mpact’s Atlantis plant by 150 tonnes per year, which would otherwise end up in landfill. The new bottle design also allows for more efficient palletisation, reducing the need for cardboard packaging during transport and lowering overall material use.​

Mkwanazi Management Services won the Away-From-Home Collection and Recycling award for their large-scale, public space or “roadside recycling” model in rural Mpumalanga. One of the standout aspects of this model is cleaning up a 72-kilometre stretch of the R23 route. This alone yields 250 kilograms of recyclable materials per week, turning a high-litter public space into an active collection point.​

Earning the Community Changemaker accolade, the Bontle ke Tlhago co-operative is growing a trusted recycling hub in Diepsloot, and also runs school programmes and community workshops.

Finally, the national, youth-led platform, the Green Youth Network claimed the Circular Economy Facilitation award for its work in mobilising young people as active participants in the circular economy and connecting producer responsibility organisations, government, municipalities, recyclers, NGOs, academia, and community organisations, to bridge the gap between policy, industry, and what is happening on the ground.​