Washing municipal bins a new business in Dunoon

With no experience in running a business, no capital and no networks, a Dunoon man just went ahead and started a business from scratch – cleaning residents’ municipal refuse bins for a fee.

Bulela Moloi, 32, started the business armed with only a broom. He has been operating since 2016 and has created work opportunities for four more people.

The father of four approached residents in RDP houses, offering to clean their refuse bins after they had been emptied by the municipality. To his surprise, residents agreed. He started cleaning their bins for them, charging each client R60 a month.

The municipality empties bins in the area on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Mondays, says Moloi, he cleans 50 municipal refuse bins; on Thursdays he cleans 80 bins; on Fridays 30 bins. He says his client base is still growing.

“There are so many people here. I never experience problems with payments. Dunoon is bustling and is near the industrial area. People don’t have time to wash their refuse bins as they go hunting for job opportunities, while some have to go to work,” said Moloi.

“I am a social entrepreneur … I always look at the aspect of how I can help people, which is the social side, but I also look at how I can help myself economically because jobs are scarce in this area.”

He has now bought pressure washing equipment which he uses to clean the bins. He stores water in one refuse bin, inserts a hosepipe, connected to a pressure pump powered by electricity from a nearby informal settlement. He cleans the bins lined up in the street and takes them back to his customers.

Moloi says he is planning to buy a generator and a bakkie as his customers keep increasing. “It would be quicker to get to clients like that,” he said.

Moloi walks to his clients to collects and returns the refuse bins, which he washes outside the Inkwenkwezi Secondary School.

He said that his pressure cleaning machine does not use a lot of water and he is aware of the water restrictions, which limit water usage to less than 50-litres per day per person. He says he recycles the water after washing the refuse bins.

Aphiwe Khedami, who runs a restaurant on Usasadza Street is one of Moloi’s clients. “He is doing a great job. No one saw the opportunity. He has no competitors. Cleaning refuse bins makes places neat and prevents rodent and cockroach infestations,” said Khedami.

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