Today, Danone NutriDay celebrated Emaromeni Primary School in Gauteng as one of the three national winners in the company’s recent recycling campaign – Tubs2Classrooms. Last week, Wavecrest Primary was the chosen winning school for the Western Cape.
The Tubs2Classrooms competition was launched in 2022 where NutriDay, in partnership with Pick ‘n Pay and Interwaste, set out to educate 80 primary schools nationally, teaching children about the value of responsible plastic recycling. Children were encouraged to clean and bring their used yoghurt tubs to school, which in turn will be converted into light-weight bricks to build learning centres for schools in need.
The award-winning concept took Gold in the category of Circular Economy and Waste Innovation at the Eco-logic Awards in September 2022 and was recently supported by Minister Barbara Creecy and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE). The project creates a second life for plastic, while providing much needed resources to schools and diverting plastic from landfill.
Emaromeni Primary is a small but impactful school of 260 learners, who collected over 4000 of the 300000 yoghurt tubs collected throughout the campaign. On average, each learner collected 16 tubs, the most per child of all the participating schools in the province. The school was awarded a R10 000 cash prize in recognition of their efforts.
“Schools perform an invaluable role in our communities. Not only do they shape the minds of our future generation, but they have the power to actively drive social change that leads to a better, more sustainable future for all,” says Leanne Kiezer, Head of Corporate Affairs for Danone Southern Africa. “It is our honour to recognise Emaromeni Primary’s passion for protecting the environment; a cause which Danone values and implements as part of our business goals.”
