Recycling levels up at Watercrest Mall

IF you are an individual who cares for the environment and would like to play your part in reducing your carbon footprint, there is no place more ideal to become involved than at the Watercrest Mall Recycling Village.

Woolworths partnered with Wildtrust to introduce a Wildlands recycling village at the local mall as well as upgrade recycling facilities at other malls in KZN.

The project also includes DOW, Nedbank and Youth Employment Service (YES)

“The recycling village is a service to Woolworths customers and the mall’s customers as a place where plastic will be responsibly discarded, upcylced, recycled and reused – as far as possible. The objective is to remove waste from communities and the environment,” said Wildtrust’s strategic manager, Hanno Langenhoven.

The Waterfall-based village opened in November last year and, during the Highway Mail’s on-site visit, met with one of its regular supporters.

“I saw it in the newspaper and I have been dropping my recycling off here ever since. I usually divide it all into their categories but a very kind lady on site helps me separate it. I’m honestly mortified how much waste we actually create now that I have started bringing it here,” said Ingrid Sweeney.

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Woolworths covered the cost of installing the village at the mall while Wildlands subsidises its costs.

“The sale of the goods only covers about 20 per cent of the cost,” said Hanno.

“Recycling is not a viable waste management solution and may not be an answer to the waste problem but we don’t have long term solutions. Recycling is a band aid solution. The only thing we can do is reduce and reuse and we have a moral obligation to recycle.”

“We must never forget the roots of plastic- oil and gas. With the current climate crisis we should leave the oil and gas in the ground. The ‘inconvenience’ is not nearly as bad as it seems,” said Hanno.

Watercrest Mall’s centre manager, Beth Bragge encouraged schools to visit the recycling village and take part in educational outings on how to reduce, reuse and recycle and how these notions can be implemented at school and at home.

The mall has its own in-house recycling centre where the waste from each of its stores is separated and recycled.

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