After years of changing careers and starting businesses, entrepreneur Phethuxolo Austin Ngoyi has finally found his passion in recycling construction waste. Ngoyi, 44, owns Vanquisher Building Solutions and uses recycled materials to construct playgrounds, among other things.

“We use the rubble for a number of alternative projects, such as building slabs, filling unequal ground and sandbag flood control during our demolishing projects. We reclaim bricks and reuse them in alternate projects. We also entered the fall-safe field where we procure rubber granules (ground secondhand tyres) and add a special binder to create a rubber-safe surface for ECD [early childhood development] playgrounds,” said Ngoyi.

Born and bred in Soweto, Ngoyi studied IT and wanted to be a technician. He said he got a job at a prominent bank in Johannesburg but decided to leave and start a business.

“I wanted a challenge and for some time, I did freelance work. I decided to open a management business with my neighbour in the cleaning sector but this didn’t work out and eventually, we gave up on it. The following year, I started an events company with another neighbour and invested about R30,000 in it. 

“I then opened a logistics company with a friend and a studio company in 2007, and it was really doing well but a year later, we were victims of robbery and we didn’t have insurance. I lost close to R20,000 and I honestly can’t remember how I survived,” Ngoyi said. In 2015, he heard a family friend talk about the need to transport construction waste.

“I then changed the name I had registered the studio company under to Vanquisher Building Solutions. It was hard at first as getting clients was difficult but what we offered was unique and that’s how we got the playground project,” said Ngoyi. 

He said when he was called to do work at one school, he realised that a lot of work would be needed to ensure a safe environment for children to play in. 

“We did a lot of research when building that playground. We reused old concrete and crushed it to be used to harden and cement the foundation of the playground of the school because behind the school was a prison located on various mountain plates and we wanted the playground to have a strong foundation.

“The next thing we realised was that we didn’t want children getting hurt when they fell and that’s where the use of old tires came in,” explained Ngoyi. 

“We took rubber tyres, for example, made rubber granules and added a binding agent to form a rubber-like tar that we used to create a play area that was fall-safe.” 

Ngoyi said rubber granules are used on tennis grounds and often soccer fields as well. He added that playgrounds was something he always wanted to build. “When you come from a kasi (township), you see children playing in dilapidating playgrounds that aren’t that safe and all you really want to see is the rehabilitation of those grounds, and it’s easy to just repurpose something.

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“There is often rubble in the wrong places when you move around [townships]. I believe this rubble can be used by adopting a circularity mindset,” said Ngoyi. He said that the company now looks forward to expanding more on circulating waste, especially making rubber granules. 

“This doesn’t only benefit the company but it can also provide jobs in my community and create income, even if it’s small. We want to get tires in exchange for cash, specifically old tires that can’t be used anymore but can be repurposed.  Something old can be turned into something valuable for someone else,” he said.

This article was first published in Sowetan Live