Thumbs up to the business initiative between City of Tshwane and GX New Enviro Solutions with their FAW Trucks. This partnership has resulted in virtually litter-free schools in Attridgeville Lotus Gardens and Olivenhoutbosch. Radio 702 presenter John Robbie recently tweeted on how clean these townships of the City of Tshwane were: “What have they got right?” he asked.
Masopha Moshoeshoe, General Manager of New GX Enviro, a waste management service provider and a subsidiary of New GX Capital, explains: “In 2012 we started a three-year contract with the City of Tshwane to provide an end-to-end waste management service in the three areas being Atteridgeville, Lotus Gardens and Olievenhoutbosch, with the distinct outcome of developing and empowering SMMEs to run their own waste collection business after completion of the contract. The project also demanded we employ only people from the same three areas. The result is that we have six SMMEs being mentored by us while working on this contract and that 129 new jobs have been created.
The New GX Enviro/City of Tshwane project provides a complete waste management solution to the three areas with their combined total of approximately 90 000 households. The contract includes:
- Weekly house-to-house refuse removal services (round collection);
- Litter picking;
- Bulk container services, as and when required;
- Initiating and supporting community-based recycling initiatives; and
- The removal and prevention of illegal dumping.
”What is most important is that, at the end of the contract term, the SMMEs take over their particular vehicle(s), and are completely empowered with business skills and waste management experience. They are then totally enabled to find their own contracts and continue a viable and sustainable business. They could choose to either form a collective group or continue as individual companies, in waste management or any other field.”
Notwithstanding that this is an incubation programme New GX Enviro has recorded remarkable cost efficiencies, reasonable return on investment and exceptionally low operating costs being recorded to date.
“This is where FAW comes into the mix. The contract determined that the vehicles had to be brand new at the beginning of the term and were to be handed over to the SMMEs, at no cost, at the end of the term. We sought out various vehicle options and seriously looked at factors like affordability, total cost of operation – like cost of maintenance and spare parts – and vehicle retention value.
“The FAW trucks were perfect for our purposes and we initially bought seven trucks. These included 5 x FAW 28.330 FL truck tractors onto which the bodybuilders built waste compactors with mechanical low-lift bin loaders for the household collection and litter picking operations. We added two FAW 28.280FD 10 ³ complete tipper trucks to deal with the other contract activities, such as clearing any illegal dumping. The 28-ton GVM tippers are used for waste clearing in tandem with TLBs, and for removal to land-fill sites or in the future, to recycling facilities.”
Another two FAW 28.330FL 6×4 chassis cab trucks were added to the fleet after being fitted with McNeilus 20m3 rear-end loading compactors and similar mechanical bin loaders. The FAW 28.330FL, new generation models are fitted with the renowned Weichai six-cylinder in-line, water-cooled, turbo-charged engines delivering a solid 245kW at 2 200rpm and very strong 1 250N.m of torque at 1 400rpm.
“The choice was for FAW trucks for a number of very pertinent reasons. The two-year factory warranty, aftersales service and parts back-up provided by FAW ensured that the vehicles, with regular maintenance, retained high inherent value and would be able to provide at least another nine solid operating years after the SMMEs took over the vehicles from this three project ending January 2015.
“The vehicles also have easy-to-drive manual transmissions despite this work normally being done by vehicles fitted with automatic transmissions. We needed trucks that were cost effective, easy to maintain, more manual than electronic in all attributes given the rigors of the operating environment,” explains Moshoeshoe.
“The SMMEs’ drivers are careful on road, and control idling and follow good driving habits. The result is good fuel consumption figures and low running costs. Excellent discipline and sound business principles have now been acquired. They are also aware that a well maintained vehicle is safer and retains value, especially when the vehicle becomes their own.
“The FAW compactors and tippers are affordable to run – a critical attribute for any small business,” says Moshoeshoe.
Follow-up Support
New GX Enviro and its management team plan to maintain an ‘on-call’ relationship with the SMME’s once they are stand-alone operators. “We will continue to offer them access to the New GX Academy, a Division of New GX Advisory Services should they wish to continue developing their business acumen or broaden their entrepreneurial skill set and our back-office support services in order to provide them with the financial and operational reporting tools to effectively manage their businesses.”
New GX Enviro is considering a similar project to assist in the development of another crop of entrepreneurs.
“We remain involved in partnering with the City of Tshwane,” says Moshoeshoe. In partnership with the City of Tshwane the company is constructing a multi-purpose recycling facility at the Kwaggasrand Landfill site. The municipality held a sod-turning ceremony in May 2014 to initiate construction on the facility, which also marked the transition by the City of Tshwane to a green economy in line with the Tshwane Vision 2055 outcomes.
With the development of the multipurpose recycling facility and the high standard already set down by New GX Enviro, the future certainly looks bright for the communities of Atteridgeville, Lotus Gardens and Olievenhoutbosch and the people of these communities who have come to appreciate the pleasure of a clean, litter-free environment. The SMMEs on the current programme are considering forming a consortium to tender for future waste collection contracts.
“Most certainly this has been a win-win business model.”
