Promoting the diversion of waste from landfill is a government directive, and when EnviroServ Waste Management found themselves with tonnes of a customer’s discarded plastic straps, they set about finding a business which could upcycle the material.
More than 100 tonnes of the material, a mixture of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PET), was donated to Asiberegeni Environmental Projects Co-operative in the Olievenhoutbosch township in Centurion, where a team of workers are hard at work turning it into useful items.
Asiberegeni is located on a municipal plot where 35 people are engaged in environment projects like farming vegetables and recycling, paid by the extended public works programme.
EnviroServ Waste Management National Commercial Manager for Onsite and Recycling, Yolandi Kruger said the straps were difficult to recycle as they were a mix of PET and PP. “The straps were originally used as packaging ties during the shipping of boxes, and it is wonderful that instead of going to landfill, this product is now having new life breathed into it and being made into a stunning range of items for the home,” she said.
Lethabo Mabilisa, director and co-founder of Asiberegeni, said the co-operative was making bags, baskets and indoor floor mats from the straps, in a project which was self-taught. “We are watching videos on YouTube about weaving and figuring it out as we go along,” she said. The products, ranging from R150 to R300 per item, are sold by word of mouth but the plan is to go into retail stores in future. “We are looking to expand the range and want make laundry baskets and shopping bags, outdoor furniture – the material is durable and there is so much you can make with it.”
