COLLABORATORS
We believe that collaboration makes us stronger. Since 2019, the Chair in Waste and Society has worked with various researchers, organisations, consultancies, and other entities to address waste together. Here are some of our longstanding collaborators.
PROF DERICK BLAAUW
is a Professor in the School of Economic Sciences at North-West University. His research focuses on labour and development economics, with particular attention to vulnerable groups in the informal economy. He has collaborated with the Chair on various research projects for more than three decades.
PROF NICOLETTE ROMAN
is the Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society at the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences at the University of the Western Cape. Her research focuses on Family Science. She serves as a co-researcher and collaborator with the Chair.
PROF ANMAR PRETORIUS
is an Associate Professor in the School of Economic Sciences at North-West University, where she teaches econometrics. Her research interests include financial and development economics, particularly financial market integration. She collaborates with the Chair through research in economic development.
AQUILA ENVIRONMENTAL
is an environmental consultancy consisting of Charlotte Nell and Monique Coetzee. Their area of expertise includes waste minimisation, data accumulation and analysis. Aquila has partnered with the Chair since 2018.
MOSSELBANK RIVER CONSERVATION TEAM (MRCT)
is a community-driven non-profit organisation dedicated to restoring and protecting the Mosselbank River and its wetlands. Since 2019, the team has partnered with the Chair, supporting illegal dumping surveys, tyre waste management and waste to energy studies.
HUGH TYRRELL
is the founder of GreenEdge Communications. He is a specialist in recycling and waste management communications, marketing and promotion, separation-at-source and behaviour change campaigns, PR, videos and materials production. He is a collaborator and consultant of the Chair since 2021.
KRUGER2CANYONS WASTE MANAGEMENT TEAM
works to develop sustainable and community-driven waste management solutions within the K2C Biosphere Region. They collaborate with the Chair on the AHP Baseline Studies in Maruleng and Bushbuckridge to better understand the diaper and sanitary pad waste crisis.
SOUTH AFRICAN AHP WASTE FORUM
is a multi-stakeholder, non-profit initiative established to advance coordinated, evidence-based responses to the growing challenge of absorbent hygiene product waste. The Forum brings together academia, government, industry, and civil society in support the development of inclusive, practical, and sustainable solutions across the value chain. The Forum collaborates closely with the Chair to achieve this goal.
PROF CLAUDINE ROOS
is based in the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University. Her research focuses on Integrated waste management, waste governance, and understanding waste dynamics in protected areas. Claudine collaborates with the Chair on student supervision and examination.
GROUNDWORK
is a non-profit environmental justice organisation. They collaborate with the Chair on community-led separation at source (S@S) and waste picker integration interventions since 2024.
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG’S PROCESS, ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY STATION (UJ PEETS)
is a university-based applied research and innovation centre that drives technology development and sustainability within South Africa’s green circular economy. Their collaboration with the Chair focuses on addressing diaper waste challenges in rural South African communities by exploring sustainable solutions like small-scale incinerators.
JOHAN VAN NIEKERK
is the Manager of Waste and Environmental Services at Swellendam Municipality. With academic, technical, and industry experience across waste operations, environmental compliance, education, and industrial design, his career spans six countries. Johan collaborates with the Chair on participatory research aimed at developing solutions for the absorbent hygiene products sector and other waste-related initiatives.
PROF MARTIN DE WIT
is an economist and Professor at the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University. His teaching speciality is related to the economic approaches to environmental management and policy, in particular drawing from the fields of environmental and ecological economics. He serves as a co-supervisor and research collaborator with the Chair.
DR ADEEL SAMBO
is a lecturer at Cape Peninsula University of Technology whose primary interest lies in developmental mentorship. Since 2022, he has been involved with the Chair, contributing to projects focused on waste pickers, waste management, and the circular economy.
THE MOSS GROUP
is a research, problem-solving and strategy consulting company. They work with the Chair on multiple research projects, including a potential Deposit Return System, job creation in the PET beverage container waste and the bakkie collector recycling sector, waste beneficiation, and mismanaged absorbent hygiene product waste.
PROF PETER DANNENBERG
is a professor of human geography, focusing on city and regional development and globalisation. His research integrates conceptual perspectives from global value chains, production networks, resilience approaches, cluster and innovation studies, and resource economics. He collaborates with the Chair on addressing problems of e-waste in the Global South.
PROF DANIEL TEVERA
is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Environmental Studies and Tourism at the University of the Western Cape. He has many influential publications on issues relating to waste and livelihoods, migrant spaces, food security, and African urbanism. He is the inaugural Programme Coordinator of the Leadership for Environment and Development in Southern Africa (LEAD-SA).
PROF JOCHEN PETERSEN
is affiliated with the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. He has great interest in using heap and in-situ leach processes for treating low-grade ores (especial of chalcopyrite), waste and tailings materials and even electronic waste. He serves as a research collaborator with the Chair.
DR MELANIE SAMSON
is a senior lecturer in Human Geography at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her expertise and research interest lie with waste pickers, waste picker integration, the waste value chain, recycling and articulations of gender, race, class and nationality. She serves as a supervisor and research collaborator with the Chair.
DR CHIDI NZEADIBE
is affiliated with the Department of Geography at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. His areas of expertise in waste and research interests include waste picking and informal sector recycling, resource recovery and entrepreneurship, solid waste management in urban governance and socio-environmental justice. He serves as a co-researcher and collaborator with the Chair.
ANTON NAHMAN
is a Principal environmental economist at the CSIR: Smart Places Cluster. His areas of expertise include economics of waste management, economic valuation of waste resources and waste-related externalities, assessment of economic vs. regulatory policy instruments, and cost-benefit analysis of waste-related policies and programs. He serves as a research collaborator with the Chair.
ROELIEN DU PLESSIS
is affiliated with Unisa. Her areas of expertise in waste and research interests include composting and waste management. She serves as a co-researcher and collaborator with the Chair.
BELINDA LANGENHOVEN
is an official within the Waste Management Directorate of the Western Cape Government’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. Her focus areas includes waste policy development and implementation, waste minimisation and the waste economy. She serves as a collaborator to the Chair.
BELINDA BOOKER
is a Project and Training Manager at the PET Recycling Company NPC (PETCO). She serves as a collaborator with the Chair. She has been driving PETCO’s visible collection and training programme and has helped collectors, formal, and informal to improve their efficiencies as well as the quantity and quality of PET and other recyclables collected.
CUZETTE DU PLESSIS
is the Research Innovation and Community Liaison officer at the Rural Development and Innovation Hub (RDIH) from the University of Limpopo. The RDIH facilitates access to local communities and align community priorities with future learning and research opportunities. Waste management is a priority area for the Hub who closely collaborates with the Chair.
DR HESTER ROBERTS
is a senior lecturer in Environmental Health at the University of Central University of Technology, Free State. Her expertise and research interest include solid waste management (abattoirs and landfills), environmental impact assessments, waste management strategies and environmental, health and social impact on community wellbeing.
THEA SCHOEMAN
is a lecturer in the department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies at the University of Johannesburg. Her expertise and research interest include recycling behaviour, drivers of waste separation at source, e-waste, and waste pickers. She serves as a supervisor and research collaborator with the Chair.
