Waste: The silent giant that could transform our economy
Image: Supplied
There is a silent giant among us - ever present, seldom seen, and rarely understood. That giant is waste. We may not talk about it at the dinner table or in boardrooms, but waste shapes our cities, our businesses, our climate, our budgets and indeed, our future. Each of us generates it. Yet few pause to ask: what could this giant become if we engaged with it differently?
Drawing on my work in urban waste diversion and biogas systems - areas in which I have published internationally and applied within South African and African city context - I see waste not as a problem to be buried, but as a resource to be activated. In South Africa, waste generation is rising alongside rapid urbanisation. African landfills are projected to receive nearly 244 million tonnes annually by 2025, much of it organic and methane-rich. This is no small environmental issue; it's a massive missed opportunity.
Waste is not neutral. It reflects how we consume, how systems are designed, and how value flows or leaks, across supply chains. So, if you are a business leader evaluating supplier contracts, a CFO reviewing ESG risks, a procurement manager sourcing packaging, or an investor seeking impact, that growth in waste represents both risk and possibility.
Waste as a silent giant means it works in the background: default behaviours produce it, and only dramatic disruption brings it to light. But we don't need spectacle, what we need is awareness. Awareness shifts decisions: packaging ambitions, operations, procurement, logistics. It seeds circular economy thinking. Conscious and intentional organisations ask: Can this waste be reused? Resold? Composted? Upcycled? Bioconverted into energy?
Through our work and on our podcast titled Not Wasting a Single Story, we interact with and interview informal collectors, policy makers, educators, social entrepreneurs and more. Their lived experiences remind us that what looks like rubbish to one is raw material to another. These stories illuminate systemic gaps and spark imagination in boardrooms and classrooms alike. Let me share just one concrete example: transformative biogas systems built on organic waste streams on both household and institutional level, can generate decentralised renewable energy while curbing landfill methane. Such solutions are well established globally; in our research, similar models are underdeployed in African cities due to barriers like political inertia, lack of funding, and limited awareness. Yet the potential is huge: economic, environmental, societal.
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If you're reading this and wondering: 'What does this mean for my business?'—here's the direct answer: Waste is a new input. Think of it as bottom of the supply chain raw material.
Waste is risk mitigation. Divert tonnes from landfill, and you reduce disposal costs, carbon exposure, reputational threats.
Waste is a social licence. Involving informal waste workers or supporting local upcycling enterprises builds community resilience—and aligns with CSI, CSR, ESG and impactinvestment agendas.
To harness the giant, we need four shifts: Awareness, in boardrooms, in classrooms, at strategy tables.
Intentional design, embedding circular thinking into procurement, supply chain, facilities and product innovation.
Collaborative networks, including municipalities, recyclers, academia, investors, and informal sector players.
Investment and scaling, from pilot projects to citywide systems, guided by both data and lived stories.
We must all ask: what waste am I generating? In what form, and by whom is it being handled? What value is being lost and how might it be recovered? Because no matter who we are or what we do, we are all generators. And we are all managers. How we choose to engage with this giant determines whether it remains a silent burden, or a breakthrough.
In the months ahead, I look forward to sharing more opinion pieces that explore in greater depth: Business opportunities along the waste value chain and how they connect to circular economy innovation;
Green skills, and the future workforce needed for sustainable growth;
Opportunities for corporates—ESG, CSI, CSR measures that move beyond reporting to real impact;
And impact investing in waste and resource recovery, where capital mobilises climate solutions and social uplift.
My aim is simple: to get you curious, to rattle your boardrooms with new questions. Waste may be silent, but it need not remain invisible. As you unwrap your burger, dispose your packaging and consider leaving that extra bit of rice from your lunchbox: what story is your 'waste' telling and more importantly, what could it become? Let's not let that giant go unnoticed, or unused.
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