Mpact Plastic Containers together with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality have donated 10 composters, hand garden tools, fruit trees and seedlings to Phelang School for Learners with Special Educational Needs to help them recycle food waste at the school’s onsite garden.
Based in KwaThema in Ekurhuleni, the school is well known for its food garden that is managed by pupils, with help from educators. The aim of the donation is to encourage the school’s existing value of agriculture and enable it to generate its own compost to fertilise its food garden’s soil.
Commenting on the donation, Loutjie De Jongh who is the MD at Mpact Plastic Containers said the company has joined the campaign to help address the country’s challenge of a shortage of landfill space. “We believe this can be achieved if we recycle organic waste, by creating compost”.
The recycling company also runs the Ronnie Recycler schools and communities programme, in which paper banks are placed at schools to collect and contain paper waste for recycling.
Ekurhuleni MMC for environmental resource and waste management Makhosazana Mabaso said the initiative is sustainable and will help uplift the impoverished community.“Encouraging residents to produce compost from some of their organic waste will also encourage them to start gardens and produce their own fruits and vegetables. This will also ensure our people are eating healthily and have control of what goes into their own food,” she said.
School principal Tshepo Ledwaba said the donation will help expand and improve the school’s gardening project. “Gardening is one of the skills we offer to our learners. The donation will enable them to learn new and modern ways of taking care of their gardens and reusing recyclable material. They will also learn the importance of recycling,” said Ledwaba.
The Mpact composters will speed up the process of breaking down organic waste, such as vegetable peels, garden clippings and leaves, into compost. “This donation gives us the chance to envision a positive future for our learners. This partnership will certainly bear fruits of success,” said Ledwaba.
“The programme will entrench the culture of reducing, reusing and recycling in young minds, which will become sustainable practices in our communities and save our environment for the next generations to enjoy,” added Mabaso.
