The Department of Science and Innovation introduced the first-ever SARChI Chair in Waste and Society in 2018, in partnership with the National Research Foundation and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. This Research Chair was awarded to Professor Catherina Schenck from the Department of Social Work at the University of the Western Cape. The mandate of the Chair is to improve South Africa’s international research and innovation competitiveness in the waste sector in a way that responds to the country’s social and economic challenges.