Upcycle empowers community to help themselves
GREYMONT – Winnie Mc Henry shares deeper insight on the Upcycle Zero Waste to Landfill Store
The Upcycle Zero Waste to Landfill Store has not only endeavoured to play its part to reduce waste which ends up at landfills. The store has trained and taught unemployed people all over South Africa to repurpose and make products from waste. The store has served as a place where shoppers are able to purchase the products.
The work with community members was done in conjunction with a community and CSI project with corporate companies. This has helped make sure the community has access to a consistent supply of the particular waste stream needed to make the products and also diverts this waste from landfill.
Owner of the store Winnie Mc Henry explained, “Corporates have high-value waste products that do not need to be remade such as branded clothing or corporate gifts. In this case, we teach our communities how to sanitise (remove branding) from the items and we then sell the items in our shop to raise funds for further projects and training as well as support the communities that are debranding the items. We help corporates identify what can be sanitised and what needs to be upcycled into another product. Some clothing manufactures are not keen on selling debranded products and in this case, we would cut up the clothing and remake it into something else.”
One of the projects which Upcycle ran was how to convert Coke bottles into a gift for R40, instead of recycling it for less. This project was done with an outreach programme in Randfontein.
“There are children and animals feeding themselves with the waste that come in from our homes and it is terrifying to see but it’s a reality that exists in our rural areas… Upcycle works as a mentoring and training company that does not hire people to work for us directly but we help each person we train to establish their own business and teach them design-thinking principles that help them run a successful business. We buy from these individuals or co-ops and help them by mentoring them to be successful businesses.”
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