“It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” These are the famous words of a character, The Lorax, in one of the many books written by Dr Seuss. The character is an environmentalist who fights and educates people on how to save the earth.
89-year-old Enid Tschirpig is Vryheid’s very own ‘real-life Lorax’, as she also contributes to the environment by recycling. Enid’s granddaughter, Chantelle, approached her four years ago and asked her why she is discarding all the plastic bags and tops of bottles, since they can be used to make eco-bricks. She showed Enid how to make eco-bricks and that inspired her to start with the project. Even though Enid refers to herself as ‘the mad woman’ who uses plastic to fill up cold drink bottles, she inspires those around her and never wastes anything. Enid has filled up 88 bottles already, and it takes about a week to make one eco-brick. She uses anything that contains plastic, and even makes use of foil pill sheets, as well as the plastic inserts on top of long life milk containers. Enid says it doesn’t take her long to fill the bottles and it is part of her routine to recycle, since she keeps everything close by. “It is so easy to separate the plastic products from the rest,” she explained. Enid continued by saying that her daughter, Carmen Combrinck, will use the eco-bricks to build a ‘long drop’ on their premises, since she also tries to live eco-friendly and recycle the old into the new. And if making eco-bricks is not enough, Enid also uses long life milk containers to make shade caps for plants. Cereal boxes get converted into linings for her cupboards. She says she can afford to buy papers to line her cupboards, but thinks it is more important to re-use items you already have. Enid used to have earthworms, using the worms’ excrement as fertilizer in her garden. She drifted off into the past and proudly told the Herald how she never bought clothes, but made everything herself, for her and her children. Enid is an inspiration to young and old, and lives by her motto of “I can, I will and I shall”.
ALSO READ: Eco Bricks – One man’s trash is another’s building block
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