Happiness Lubisi fell in love with recycling when she started her journey teaching the community and schools about waste, and the importance of recycling.
“I realized that to make a change in the mindset of the community, we need to start educating the children about waste management. In turn they will teach their children. I hope to instill a sense of pride and responsibility when they think about recycling and the impact they’ve had on the environment,” explained Lubisi. Lubisi recently became the owner of Shodulla Recycling and Waste Management, and she plans to help the community surrounding it to grow their recycling habits and work together to make the Hoedspruit area a greener space.
“I started as an admin in 2015, then I worked myself up to a manager in two years time, and last year I proudly took the reigns at Shodulla,” Lubisi boasted, she went on to say that even though the recycling industry is tough – she has a lot of ideas in the pipeline and is eager to start them.
“We try to recycling a variety of recyclable products at our facility and I want us to start manufacturing something to show that we have grown over the years – and we are still growing,” explained Lubisi.
“We try and give back to the community through employing locals to come help sort waste, or to be waste premiers by going around and collecting waste for us to recycle,” Ludisi went on to explain that they employ around 34 people and that they’ve started a partnership with Coca Cola’s recycling project to create a cleaner environment.
READ: HOEDSPRUIT: Community cleanup a success
“There are competitions that they host where schools collect recyclable waste to minimize pollution and win cash prize – for example Acorns to Oaks won first prize a while back,” Lubisi explained.
