Turning waste into school classrooms
The yoghurt tubs will ultimately be converted into bricks which will be used to build classrooms for needy schools.
Danone NutriDay, in partnership with Pick n Pay, launched the NutriDay Tubs2Classrooms school competition following an educational session on the importance of recycling at Nageng Primary School in Vosloorus on April 25.
The Danone team started the day with a presentation filled with entertainment and lessons about the recycling of NutriDay yoghurt tubs (NYT) and their benefits.
According to Danone corporate affairs manager Leanne Kiezer, the competition will run across 80 various schools in three provinces, including Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape.
For the competition, learners are expected to collect NYT, clean them and place them in a recycling bin. The tubs will ultimately be converted into bricks that will be used to build classrooms, explained Kiezer.
She said the competition concludes in October and the prizes include R10 000 prize money for the schools that collect the most tubs per province.
Kiezer said Danone NutriDay is passionate about the cause of recycling and they are aware of the plastic which is taking over the planet.
She said they want to teach young children about the value of recycling so that they can be agents of change in their community.
“We teach the children that after they have enjoyed their delicious yoghurt, they must wash the yoghurt tub and put them into a collection bin,” she continued.
“The reason for that is that we have discovered technology that you can convert the yoghurt tubs into lightweight, strong bricks.
She said their goal for 2022 is to collect enough tubs to make enough bricks that will build two classrooms for schools in need.
“We are trying to teach children that waste has value, it must not end up in the streets or nature, it must go into a recycling stream because then we can use it to create something new, like classrooms for learners,” said Kiezer.
Nageng Primary School’s competition coordinator Sekang Makena said the initiative will teach learners about global warming, why they should take care of the environment and the importance of recycling.
He explained that recycling initiatives are not foreign to the school as they have previously won recycling competitions.
He said the school won a mobile recycling programme with prize money of R50 000. Years ago, they used it to make a computer lab.
“Recycling benefits many families and us as a school,” he continued.
“This is not the kind of recycling that we are doing here at school, but if we win this R10 000 prize from Danone, we will utilise it specifically for learners from disadvantaged families.
“We will buy school uniforms and food because we often get families coming to school to ask for food, so if we win, we will be in a position to assist with that,” he concluded.
