Cool thing about recycling
RANDBURG – The Glass Recycling Company, which based in Bryanston, took a completely different approach this year. In order to create awareness around glass recycling, they combined art and graffiti to get the word out there.
Their recent art competition had creatives doing all sorts of things on the glass banks situated all over Joburg. CEO of The Glass Recycling Company, Shabeer Jhetam, told us a little bit more about the competition.
“Recycling is something that South Africans still need to get into completely so we ran the competition to attract attention and get people excited to recycle.” The winner of the competition was a self- taught graffiti artist by the name of Dbongz Mahalathi. His colourful bank was strategically placed at the Engen Garage on Malibongwe Drive in Randburg.
“We really loved this one in particular, it’s all about changing mindsets. “This was a winning one, each guy had a similar theme, from the detail, the colours, the funkiness and the fact that it was all done with a spray can.
It’s cool and changing the perceptions of people. “There was no strict brief given but the designs had to be something that advocated recycling – more so glass recycling. “Normally its dark green so people find it a bit boring. We did about six and each contestant did about two, the message was to be more environmentally friendly.
“People see graffiti as something very negative and in South Africa we’re very forward thinking so we wanted to do something a little bit different. We need to change mindsets and of course it takes time to do that.”
The company believes in the infinite potential of glass to make a real and positive contribution to society and is committed to prove that glass recycling is worth the effort. Find a glass bank artwork in your area. Visit the one at the Engen and take a picture for social media. Remember to hash tag Heart4Glass and don’t forget to recycle.
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