Trash4Cash: DACHSER Young Professionals visit recycling project in Zambia
By Melanie Guggenberger I 5 minute read
27/11/2024
In September of this year, five young people who are currently completing a dual study program at DACHSER traveled to Zambia as part of an exchange project. Among other things, they visited the recycling company Trash4Cash, which young Zambians founded in Livingstone in 2019 with the support of DACHSER and the children’s charity Terre des Hommes. The young entrepreneurs from Zambia had visited Kempten in the Allgäu region back in May and took an in-depth look at waste management in Germany. A change of perspective that pays off for the young people from both countries and contributes to their personal development.
Together with the young professionals from DACHSER, trainees from the municipal waste management company ZAK from Kempten also traveled to southern Africa. The program during the three-week exchange was varied. The participants from Germany actively worked at the Trash4Cash recycling center and helped the waste collectors sort and buy raw waste in the nearby towns of Malota, Kazungula and Libuyu. They also took part in an exchange with a youth network in Livingstone. The program also included talks with the mayor and the Head of Public Health in Livingstone and with the German ambassador in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. They accompanied the young entrepreneurs, who actively reported on Trash4Cash and the importance and benefits of waste management at three local schools. The youth exchange also included leisure activities where the German participants got to know the local people and culture.
“The exchange project enabled the young people to change their perspective,” summarizes Bernhard Simon, Chairman of the DACHSER Supervisory Board. “We can only move the world if we see it through the eyes of other people, i.e. if we experience and understand both the global South and the North. The resulting personal development puts us in a position to draw conclusions about sensible action.”
The exchange project enabled the young people to change their perspective.
Trash4Cash: Insights and challenges
“We learned first-hand how recycling works in a country like Zambia. It was particularly impressive for me to see how people find a source of income by collecting waste,” says Dennis Buenyat, dual student at DACHSER. “It was great to see how recycling can alleviate economic and environmental problems. I also realized how serious the consequences are for the environment and health if waste cannot be disposed of properly. The recycling machines we saw on site turned waste into valuable raw materials. That really impressed me.”
“After a short workshop, the first week started directly with work at the Trash4Cash waste hub in Maramba, a district of Livingstone. We were shown around the plant, the processes were explained and we realized for the first time that the waste compactor would not work without electricity. Due to the ongoing drought, the country is unable to generate hydroelectric power at the dam, which paralyzes large parts of the country that only have two to six hours of electricity a day,” adds Christoph Meyer, dual student at DACHSER.
A few months earlier, eleven young Zambians from Livingstone visited the Allgäu to find out more about recycling and waste management.
Neben diesen sogenannten Power Cuts hat das Team des Recyclingunternehmens weitere Herausforderungen zu meistern. Während des Austausches diskutierten und erarbeiteten die DACHSER -, ZAK- und Trash4Cash-Teilnehmenden gemeinsam Konzepte und Lösungen. So fehlt es dem Projekt vor Ort bisher noch an Bekanntheit, sodass Marketingmaßnahmen notwendig sind. Darüber hinaus lassen sich die Organisation und die Arbeitsabläufe vor Ort am Müll-Hub und auch beim Sammeln und Einkaufen des Mülls in den Stadtteilen noch weiter strukturieren und optimieren. Eine weitere Herausforderung liegt darin, die Schwankungsbreite der Umsätze zu reduzieren, um den Trash4Cash-Unternehmern ein sicheres Einkommen und einen dauerhaften Arbeitsplatz zu gewährleisten.
Thanks to the intensive work at the recycling center and the mutual exchange, the German participants also took home new specialist knowledge in waste management, which they can use for their own projects at DACHSER and ZAK.
From three small teams to one big team
Some of the participants from Germany and Zambia already knew each other from the previous exchange in Kempten, so it was a warm reunion. Through the joint work, regular coordination and team-building activities, the connection was strengthened even more and a large group developed. Language barriers were overcome by helping each other to translate and the German participants’ English improved to some extent. Some of the project participants made friends during this time and are still in contact privately after the youth exchange.
The travelers agree that their time in Zambia has helped them grow both professionally and personally. “I have rarely met more frugal and cheerful people, which I find really admirable when you consider how often we complain about small things in Europe. This should serve as an example of cohesion, frugality and, above all, gratitude,” concludes Christoph Meyer.
