Itsoseng Bio-circular Community Pilot Project
The Bio-Circular Economy Project is an innovative sustainability initiative aimed at addressing environmental challenges, creating economic opportunities, and promoting social empowerment in South Africa’s townships. Several public, private, scientific and community partners have come together to pilot a circular economy model in the informal settlement of Itsoseng, in the North West of the City of Johannesburg.
The social-ecological initiative will introduce context-appropriate technologies to marginalised households, enabling them to better manage local waste and address climate change. This will encourage recycling habits, generate clean energy, and introduce innovative urban agriculture approaches to improve food security, nutrition, and community health. By integrating waste-to-value approaches, circular economy principles, and community-driven entrepreneurship, the project seeks to transform organic waste into valuable resources, fostering both environmental and economic resilience.
Key components of this initiative is the research and development (R&D) on new township bio-circular systems done in collaboration with various technical institutions, and the ecopreneurship capacity-building programme implemented with University of Pretoria, Johannesburg and Venda. The programme is designed to equip local entrepreneurs with the necessary technical skills, appropriate technologies, and business acumen to establish and scale bio-circular enterprises and small sustainability businesses. Thus, to generate new eco-jobs, microenterprises, and agribusinesses that alleviate poverty and improve social and environmental conditions.
The project has been implemented in close collaboration with the local, provincial and national government authorities and various scientific partners, so as to encourage collective learning, demonstration and replication of the interventions in other disadvantaged areas. The Itsoseng pilot initiative is a proof of concept (POC) for other sustainability projects in other rural and urban communities of South Africa.
