Hospital drip bags are being recycled into school shoes, with plans by a joint venture between Netcare and Adcock Ingram Critical Care to make in excess of 25 000 pairs of school shoes for South African learners this year.
In Springs, the N17 Hospital has thrown their weight behind the project and will be donating waste to this project, joining 21 other Netcare hospitals in Gauteng in this initiative.
N17 general manager Jaco du Preez says: “Netcare N17 Hospital is one of the nine hospitals which will start participating in the initiative in the first quarter of 2020.
“We are extremely excited about this initiative, which will positively impact our youth of today.
“Many children can now journey to school with a decent pair of shoes.”
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The first 1 300 primary school learners to receive new school shoes made from recycled PVC health-care waste products, as part of the My Walk initiative, were treated to their shoes earlier this month at Chivirikani Primary School in Katlehong.
A prototype of the school shoes was tested at three schools in 2019 in order to get first-hand feedback from learners on the design and comfort.
The final unisex shoe design took into consideration the valuable feedback received from the learners.
One of the participating schools was Chivirikani Primary, and it was therefore decided, in consultation with the school, to launch the My Walk initiative at its premises and distribute the first batch of fully recycled school shoes to learners at the school.
This initiative, which is sustainable over the long-term, requires just 20 drip bags to make one pair of shoes and also offers environmental benefits, enterprise development and job creation opportunities.
Other non-hazardous hospital waste, including oxygen masks and associated tubing, are also being used for this project.
In turn, the shoes are 100 per cent recyclable, with the exception of the laces.
Speaking at the launch of the My Walk initiative, the chief director of national and provincial communication in the Ministry of Basic Education, Elijah Mhlanga, welcomed the initiative, saying: “School shoes are a basic necessity, and if learners do not have adequate footwear, this can introduce ongoing obstacles to their education, including bullying and harassment at school.
“Having school shoes can enhance the schooling experience for learners.
“Many learners unfortunately still walk long distances to and from school without shoes, facing a daily threat of sustaining cuts and infections.”
Chief executive officer of Netcare Dr Richard Friedland explains: “We found ourselves with tonnes of high-quality PVC waste, as drip bags, oxygen masks and associated tubing can only be used once in a medical context.
“In the past, these used, non-hazardous and uncontaminated products ended up at landfills.
“The My Walk partnership is an example of embracing a circular economy.
“It shows how a green solution can fulfil a material need for a business while simultaneously benefiting society – in this case by supporting education, job creation and enterprise development.”
Delanie Bezuidenhout, general manager of the My Walk initiative, says: “During 2019, 18.8 tonnes of PVC were collected for recycling through the efforts of the My Walk initiative, which is enough to make 23 000 pairs of new school shoes.”
“Aside from preventing the waste of nearly 19 tonnes of useful material that would otherwise add to the country’s landfill burden, we also prevented 1.5 tonnes of greenhouse gasses from polluting the atmosphere for each tonne of PVC material that we recycle and repurpose,” explains Netcare’s environmental sustainability manager, Johan Durand.
“In addition, if we compare the amount of energy it takes to manufacture PVC from scratch with the amount required to produce school shoes from the recycled PVC, it results in a saving of more than 5GWh from 18.8 tonnes of recycled material.
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“To put this into perspective, 5GWh of electricity is enough to provide power for nearly 1 200 people for an entire year.
“Twelve Netcare hospitals in Gauteng are already on board, and nine more will start participating in the initiative in the first quarter of 2020.
“We are projecting collection of 25 tonnes of recyclable PVC in 2020, enough to make some 33 000 pairs of shoes, and have set targets for collecting 35 tonnes next year, 45 tonnes in 2022 and by 2023 hope to upscale the project to recycle 55 tonnes.”
“We, therefore, anticipate that the project will be able to dramatically increase production of school shoes in the years ahead, and yield even better environmental sustainability results and open up more small business opportunities as the initiative grows,” Bezuidenhout concludes.
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