PLASTIC PAIN Councillors confront unsafe recycling conditions opposite police road block
Gabane East councillor Batswana Nthibo and Mogoditshane West councillor Mokgatla David Pule this week tagged Pula24 along when they decided to go out and see for themselves what life looks like for workers at a plastic-recycling company opposite the Gabane Police roadblock. What they found was disturbing.
The stench hit them first, overwhelming, sour, and impossible to ignore. Inside, workers bent over heaps of rubbish, scraping labels off used Sta-Soft containers, beverage bottles, plastic wrappers, and shopping bags with nothing more than knives. Large sacks of waste had swallowed up the entire work area, leaving barely any space to move.
But what shocked the councillors most was the lack of protective gear. Workers admitted they had no overalls, no masks, no gloves… some were even wearing flip-flops because they had no proper shoes for the job.
“We fear losing our jobs because we do not know what will happen to us,” one worker confessed on the sidelines of the ‘raid,’ adding that the strong smell made breathing difficult and nothing had been done to protect them.
The workers revealed they had no contracts, only word-of-mouth hiring, and little knowledge of their labour rights. For their troubles, they earn P72 a day — about P1,800 in a good month — while working from 8 in the morning until 5 in the evening. Around 20 workers are employed at the facility under these conditions.
When asked by Pula24, company director Abdullah Khan admitted he had failed to follow labour and safety regulations. He promised to fix the situation by the end of the week, particularly regarding worker safety.
The councillors, visibly unimpressed, warned him to act urgently. They demanded protective clothing, gloves, masks, and formal contracts for all workers, stressing that failure to comply would invite further action.
PULA24 SAYS: Plastic waste may be recycled here, but worker dignity clearly isn’t. Councillors have sounded the alarm, and the director has promised change. The real question is whether promises will turn into action — or if workers will keep scraping by in flip-flops.
