Waste is not simply an environmental problem; it is an economic and social challenge that affects communities, livelihoods, public health and the places where people live. Since 2005, Dreamcatcher has worked with communities across South Africa to address these challenges, focusing on reducing waste, reusing materials, recovering resources, recycling and diverting organic waste from landfill.
Melkhoutfontein, where Dreamcatcher is based, has historically experienced poor waste management. Waste collected from the Stilbaai area was disposed of at the local dumpsite, where much of it was openly burned (see banner image). The impacts were felt by the surrounding community, while illegal dumping remained a persistent problem.
These experiences led Dreamcatcher to become increasingly involved in understanding the causes of local waste problems and finding practical solutions. In 2009, we established a Melkhoutfontein Waste Working Group to bring community members and stakeholders together to discuss the challenges and identify possible solutions. This led to the first waste training for community members in 2010 and the development of practical approaches to waste reduction, recycling and resource recovery. This included installing and trialling the first Green Johanna composters in South Africa.
In 2018, the Community Waste Working Group was extended to include stakeholders from the wider Stilbaai region. This reflected continuing concerns about increasing waste levels and limited progress in addressing the underlying problems.
Drawing on more than a decade of research, monitoring and community engagement, the Working Group developed a comprehensive waste-management plan for Hessequa Municipality. The plan was provided free of charge to support consideration and potential implementation.
The Working Group also highlighted a disconnect between Hessequa’s promotion of the region, particularly Stilbaai, as a beautiful and environmentally conscious holiday destination, and the performance of its waste-management system. It raised concerns that the region was being promoted among the ‘greenest’ municipalities and towns in the country while aspects of waste management remained below legislative requirements.
Dreamcatcher’s response was not limited to advocacy. We began developing and supporting practical alternatives that could demonstrate what a more circular approach to waste could look like at community level.
Through Made in Melkhoutfontein™, waste materials are transformed into products through crafting and enterprise. The initiative demonstrates how materials that might otherwise be discarded can become resources for creativity, skills development, livelihoods and local economic activity.
Through the Green Johanna initiative, Dreamcatcher has focused on one of the largest components of household waste: organic waste. By supporting household composting, food and garden waste can be diverted from disposal and transformed into a useful resource.
These programmes are underpinned by evidence. Dreamcatcher has undertaken waste mapping, community questionnaires, recycling monitoring, photographic documentation and action planning to understand local waste challenges and identify opportunities for intervention.
In collaboration with the SMJ (Stilbaai, Melkhoutfontein and Jongensfontein) Community Waste Working Group this work culminated in a Community Waste Action Plan in 2023, setting out short- and medium-term actions for the greater Stilbaai region. Key priorities included increasing organic-waste diversion, improving the quality and quantity of recycling, and developing targeted waste-awareness programmes.
There have been important improvements since Dreamcatcher’s early work. Waste is no longer routinely burned in Melkhoutfontein, most residual waste is now transported to Riversdale for disposal, and Henque Waste provides a recycling service.
However, significant challenges remain.
Hessequa Municipality’s vision of becoming a Zero Waste Society by 2020, set out in its 2012–2016 and 2017–2022 Integrated Development Plans, has not been achieved and was removed from the 2023–2028 plan. With organic waste prohibited from landfill in the Western Cape Province from 2027, Hessequa’s relatively low organic-waste diversion and limited progress on its Waste Minimisation and Organic Waste Diversion Plans remain significant concerns.
Landfill performance is also below the 80% compliance benchmark, with Hessequa’s own documentation recording an average compliance score of just 67.17%.
The challenge, therefore, is no longer simply recognising that waste is a problem. It is about changing the system — reducing the amount of waste generated, keeping materials in productive use for longer, recovering resources and reducing dependence on landfill.
Dreamcatcher believes effective waste management requires more than infrastructure. It requires community participation, reliable evidence, behaviour change, technical knowledge and practical solutions.
Our founder, Anthea, has extensive experience in waste management across community-based tourism enterprises, social housing and housing developments in South Africa and the UK. In a UK government-funded project, she worked across 73 social housing sites in 31 local authorities, leading staff and residents to identify challenges and implement practical solutions, including behaviour-change and home-composting programmes. The work delivered significant impacts, informed government policy and contributed to best-practice guidance presented at the International Solid Waste Association Annual Congress in Belgium, with findings published in Sustainability.
This experience has been strengthened through long-term collaboration with the University of Brighton and waste-management specialist Dr Ryan Woodard, now an independent volunteer, bringing together technical expertise, research and community experience. Across the Dreamcatcher team, this combination of knowledge and practical experience supports a range of initiatives that empower communities and enterprises to address waste challenges.
Together, these initiatives form part of a long-term journey towards more resource-efficient, resilient and community-led approaches to waste in South African communities.
The timeline below traces this journey from 2009 onwards, showing how individual projects, research, partnerships and community initiatives have progressively contributed to Dreamcatcher’s wider approach to community-led circular economy action in South Africa.
Dreamcatcher enterprises and Melkhoutfontein community members were becoming increasingly concerned about the poor waste management system and its significant impact on the environment, air quality and public health. This included waste being routinely burned in the open air by the municipality at the dumpsite, illegal dumping at the St Augustine's church grounds, and in the wider community. This included waste from all sources such as asbestos and medical waste.
Dreamcatcher South Africa launched the first waste awareness training in Melkhoutfontein, Kayamandi and Stutterheim – this was attended by Dreamcatcher enterprises from across South Africa, community leaders, and staff from municipalities including Hessequa, Knysna and Sedgefield. For many, including municipality front-line staff, this was the first formal training they had received on waste. Topics included the public health and environmental impacts of waste, understanding the waste hierarchy, reflections on waste challenges in their area, and developing ideas to change behaviour. A delegation also met with the Hessequa Municipal Manager to discuss the waste concerns.
The training included the installation of the first Green Johannas composters in South Africa – this enclosed composting system can handle garden and food waste. The system originates from Sweden and Ryan and Anthea have extensive experience of using these units in the UK. The pilot included installing Green Johannas at Dreamcatcher tourism enterprises.
We continued delivering ongoing waste training in different communities. This included Kamammas and youth from different communities developing their ideas of posters to increase awareness on the impacts of poor waste management. Thanks to Marisa these were combined into a poster circulated in communities.
Whilst the Melkhoutfontein dumpsite was formally licensed by the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in 2014, there were ongoing issues with non compliance with license conditions. This included waste still being openly burned by the municipality, which was prohibited. Dreamcatcher set up the Community Waste Working Group in Melkhoutfontein to lobby for change.
Dreamcatcher’s vision was to establish a crafting workshop transitioning waste into a resource to address the environmental and health impacts of poor waste management whilst stimulating enterprise and socio-economic development. Research was conducted mapping out waste streams including the first ever waste analysis in the local area. We collaborated with the community to identify needs and opportunities.
The information collected fed into a brief to art and design students at the University of Brighton. The brief was to develop products and crafts that could be made from the resources available whilst utilising low-cost technology and processes. The students presented back their ideas to Melkhoutfontein via video link to community representatives to critique. From this we identified products that could be made and the tools and resources to realise these ideas. You can read more about this project here. Thanks to the contributions of many supporters over the next couple of years we raised the funds needed to purchase the tools and other equipment needed.
Expansion of the Community Waste Working Group to the wider Stilbaai area including Hessequa Municipality waste staff and youth. This included a meeting of with a representation of the Stilbaai, Melkhoutfontein and Jongensfontein eco-system at the Dreamcatcher office, sharing the work to date by the Dreamcatcher Team. A comprehensive presentation sharing the waste challenges, included a decades worth of images evidencing poor waste practice, providing solutions with which the group engaged and provided further options for implementation. A request by the Hessequa Waste Manager to provide the Municipality with a comprehensive plan of action with costs based on the presentation and discussions which followed. As part of the Paint Up with Kamamma project, at the communities request, visiting artist Lindy Bishop (USA) painted a mural highlighting the impact of waste on the environment and public health.
A successful joint bid by Dreamcatcher and the University of Brighton to the British Council Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE) programme generated funds for the delivery of waste, design, making, health and safety, and enterprise training to implement our ideas. Aspiring enterprises from Melkhoutfontein were recruited and received training focusing on designing and making with Acacia cyclops, plastics and textiles. This included pop up workshops at the Dreamcatcher Home Office and Soeterus. The training and support to enterprises culminated in the 2019 Christmas market which was open to the public to buy crafts. The project is ongoing and has expanded to include additional waste materials. You can read more about the project here.
In January 2020, on invitation by the Speaker of the Hessequa Municipality, our Founder and representatives from the Dreamcatcher enterprises ('Made in Melkhoutfontein') were invited to deliver a presentation of our work to Hessequa Council. A collection of the crafts made from waste diverted from landfill by Dreamcatcher were exhibited. Sadly our work and that of the inspiring local crafters of Melkhoutfontein was held up for the next 2 years due to the Covid pandemic. During this time Dreamcatcher and its founder were globally recognised for their work on waste and environmental protection - including being awarded the 2020 Africa Tourism Leadership Forum Championing Sustainability Award
The ‘Western Cape Waste Plan’ set the target to divert 50% of organics from disposal by 2022 and 100% by 2027. The Plan targeted organics as they break down in landfill generating greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, and resources are lost. However whilst there were strategies in place very little was being implemented by Hessequa Municipality to meet these targets, and there was increased concern, including now in neighbouring Stilbaai, of the poor waste system and the long term environmental impacts and economic implications on the tax payer. Hessequa's waste approach continues to be reliant on artificially cheap landfill - which is an unstainable solution for people and the environment - and inhibits circular thinking and climate action.
In March 2022, at the request of the wider community, Dreamcatcher facilitated a meeting to discuss the ongoing waste issues. Participants included: Cape Nature, Stilbaai Chamber of Commerce, Stilbaai/Jongensfontein Interest Forums, Busy Lizzies Women’s Forum, Tuin op die Brak (gardening organisation), Farmer Association, Stilbaai Conservation Trust, Melkhoutfontein Enterprise Group, and independent representatives. There is commitment from the stakeholders to develop community-driven solutions to the challenges posed. The Community Waste Working Group evolved into the S M & J Community Waste Working Group – which is independent of the municipality.
In late 2022 Dreamcatcher were successful with a bid to the IGNITE fund (UK) to facilitate community engagement in collaboration with the University of Brighton and S M & J Community Waste Working Group to identify the waste challenges and potential solutions to feed into a Community Waste Action Plan to drive change. This included a comprehensive review of relevant policy and waste documentation for Hessequa and the wider area, two learning labs with key ecosystem members and questionnaire responses from residents and businesses. We had 298 questionnaire responses from across the three communities – the most comprehensive engagement with the community to date on waste issues. Thanks to all the participants, Stilbaai Business Chamber, Mariann Harris (Stilbaai Information Bureau) and Dr Nick Geldenhuys (Stilbaai Interest Forum), and all the members of the S M & J Waste Working Group for driving change.
Late 2023 – Community Waste Action Plan published – including short and medium initiatives to address the waste challenge. Key priorities include addressing organic waste, increasing the quality and quantity of recycling collection, and purposed waste awareness programmes. Based on our extensive experience with community participative composting, Dreamcatcher committed to drive the procurement and distribution of composters.
Based on our longstanding waste work we were accepted as members of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa.
The Institute strives to protect the environment and people of southern Africa from the adverse effects of poor waste management by supporting sustainable best practical environmental options.
Due the critical need to reduce levels of organic waste going to landfill, Dreamcatcher facilitated the import of 115 Green Johanna units to South Africa. After a longer than expected journey due to current world events – the units arrived in Melkhoutfontein in March and are now ready for distribution in the wider Stilbaai area. You can find more about the initiative here including details of how you can order a Green Johanna.
Throughout 2024, we played an active role in delivering actions from the Community Waste Action Plan. This included preparing briefing notes on initiatives such as Swop Shops, centralised composting, volunteer coordination, and waste data systems, presented to the SMJ Community Waste Working Group.
To address data gaps, we partnered with Henque Waste to conduct the largest-ever monitoring of recycling behaviour in the SMJ area—observing over 3,500 households, as well as communal collection points and businesses. The findings revealed clear opportunities to increase participation.
At the end of 2024 along with fellow SMJ Working Group members we were invited to present our work addressing waste challenges to the Stilbaai University of the Third Age (U3A). U3A is a worldwide, volunteer-led movement providing lifelong learning, socialisation, and educational activities for retired or semi-retired individuals. You can view the presentation by clicking on the image on right or on Youtube.
At the beginning of 2025 a decision was made to absorb the SMJ Working Group into the Stilbaai Community Forum (Gemeenskapsforum) - however with our focus on Melkhoutfontein we continue to work on waste initiatives in the community.
We continue to make composters available at subsidised rates.
In Melkhoutfontein, we tracked the impact of home composting over six months in a sample of 16 households. On average, each household composts about 3 kg of food waste per week, primarily vegetable and fruit peels, bones, and food scraps. Composting levels increase by around 25% during holiday periods. Garden waste, paper, and cardboard are also added to balance the compost. Participants report that they are reducing the amount of waste they put out for collection, preventing scavenging by dogs and seagulls, and saving money by buying fewer rubbish bags — all while producing compost!