Pimville based Welizibuko Primary School has expressed delight at receiving unique pencil bags from Pick n Pay School Club.
“We want to say a big thank you to Pick n Pay for these pencil cases. Our learners are delighted with them and have put them to good use. We also learned that the pencils bags are made from recycled plastic, so it was an educational experience for us as a school too. Since the donation, learners have expressed an interest in recycling and how their pencil bags were made. We hope the project goes from strength to strength and we hope to welcome Pick n Pay back at our school soon,” said Fuziwe Mbunge, the school’s Head of Department (HOD) for the intermediate phase.
The donation was part of an initiative by Pick n Pay School Club, which is on a countrywide mission to donate the PnP pencil bags to 20, 000 learners in 41 primary schools. The innovative pencil bag is made from a 500ml PET recycled plastic bottle. Additionally, Pick n Pay School Club provides more than two million learners across the country with free educational resources every year.
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Pick n Pay’s General Manager for Sustainability, Andre Nel said it was important to teach kids about recycling.
“Creating these pencil bags was a visual way to show the learners how plastic packaging can be repurposed if they recycle. We believe this can help drive good recycling habits from a young age,” he said.
Nel also highlighted the importance of recycling.
“Plastic packaging is often necessary for food security we also need to create solutions for post-consumer plastic packaging so that we can minimise its impact on the environment. The industry has created many solutions already. For instance, Pick n Pay makes all its reusable shopping bags from recycled bottles and in the last three years alone, nearly 11 million 500ml plastic bottles have been recycled to make these bags.”
Pick n Pay has teamed up with PETCO – SA’s leading PET plastic industry’s Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO). The two powerhouses are collaborating to continue teaching the importance of recycling by providing posters and workbooks to selected primary schools around the country this month.
Mdelwa Hlongwane Primary School was another Pimville-based school that benefited from this initiative in February.
