Zibulo Colliery’s gumboot recycling project gives away 1 000 school shoes
Makause Combined School is ecstatic after receiving a donation of school shoe.
As part of the start of the new term, Makause Combined School learners received a generous donation of school shoes from Zibulo Colliery operated by Thungela. Bathu Care Foundation and Etsang Dieta were part of the distribution of school shoes, to honour Global Recycling Day as well as to educate and inform learners about the importance of recycling.
Tarryn Genis, head of communication for Thungela Resources said that the 1 000 pairs of school shoes are not just any school shoes; these shoes have been produced from the recycled waste of gumboots at Zibulo Colliery.
“We are incredibly excited in commemorating global recycle day with learners here in Phola and showing them that we can create value even out of waste materials,” she added.
Lulu Madlazi from Bathu Care Foundation said, “We partnered up with Thungela on this collaboration. We donated school shoes in collaboration with Thungela to empower the children and basically to walk the journey because we believe the journey needs to be started when children are still young, all the way up. We do have sneakers, but today we are focusing on school shoes”.
One of Etsang Dieta’s five directors, Neo Mogotsi, stated “we are a shoe manufacturing cooperative, and we are so privileged to be here in this initiative that Thungela has put together for us to be a part of giving away school shoes to underprivileged children”.
Makause School principal Jan Ntuli said, “We are truly grateful for companies such as Thungela who take it upon themselves to give back to the community. The donations received today will make a huge difference to our learners and close necessary gaps. On behalf of Makause School we’d like to thank all those who participated in making this possible”.
According to Carina Venter, Executive Head of Safety, Health and Environment for Thungela, “we believe that everyone has a role to play in value creation, even when the value comes from what many would consider waste. It is a double win when you can make an investment in local education and at the same time reduce our footprint in the environment”.
