Trash is cash: This is how pupils are earning money for schools

A few years ago, visitors to Thohoyandou said it was the dirtiest town in South Africa, so Mbilwi Secondary School’s pupils and teachers decided they had to do something about it.

“Some days, the whole school walked 10km to town to go and do some cleaning up and collect recyclable trash,” Kenneth Mulovhedzi, who is a life sciences teacher at this exceptional school in Limpopo, said this week.

With 2 373 pupils from overwhelmingly poor households, Mbilwi is one of the largest schools in the province. On average, there are 73 pupils in a class, but, despite their challenges, the school has had a 100% matric pass rate since 1994. All pupils must take maths and science all the way through to the end of matric, and the school produces some of the top achievers in the province and the country every year.

This week, the school was celebrated at Coca-Cola Beverages SA’s (CCBSA) Schools Recycling Awards, which rewards schools that collect the most recyclable trash.

Mbilwi won more than R70 000 in prize money, with which it plans to build a workshop.

Pupils and staff from Mbilwi High School celebrate their remarkable achievement

“We are seeing change and we want to inspire other schools in our area to participate as well,” Mulovhedzi said.

A total of 805 schools participated in the CCBSA competition this year. The schools raised more than R1.7 million from the recyclables they collected and sold.

Eqinisweni Primary School in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, picked up the winner’s prize in the primary school division.

The school’s principal, Venable Msomi, said: “We will use the prize money to build a structure where our children can pray, because we can achieve anything with prayer.”

In partnership with Coca-Cola Africa

Every Friday, the school distributes certificates to the pupils who made the biggest contribution to their recycling project. Msomi said parents and businesses in the area helped the school reach its recycling goals.

Deputy Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Maggie Sotyu, who attended the event, said: “I did not expect what I saw here today. South Africa has exceptional talent.”

Sotyu said the recent extraordinary weather patterns across South Africa show that we are now facing a climate emergency: “It’s the responsibility of all of us to help save our planet.”

Sotyu praised the schools for the role they are playing in cleaning up and recycling in their areas. She urged all South Africans to sort their rubbish at home to boost recycling and send less trash to landfills: “With household recycling, we can take a small step towards making a big difference to our future.”

CCBSA acting public affairs and communications director Motshidisi Mokwena said it was essential to empower children to change and improve the world.

2019 School Recycling Awards

“When I was growing up, summer temperatures would go to about 34°C in Upington in the Northern Cape – now, it’s touching 48°C. There is something wrong with the world and we have to deal with it,” Mokwena said.

She praised the pupils for their involvement and hard work: “You have to work for what you want in life. It will not happen through osmosis.”

The different school principals used innovative methods to encourage pupils to participate in the initiative.

Annah Maledzani, the principal of Tshedza Comprehensive Primary School in Thohoyandou, allowed her pupils to wear casual clothes for a day if they brought five PET bottles to school to recycle.

“We collected garbage at stores, at homes and at the cemetery,” she said.

This school received R20 000 for third place in the competition, and Maledzani wants to use the money to build a library.

Monde Primary School in Katlehong is one of 13 schools that each received a merit award worth R10 000 for their continued participation in the initiative.

Its principal, Nozuko Mathanyela, said: “We praise the children in assembly if they bring in a lot of garbage. The families who helped are commended as top donors.”

In addition to the prize money, Monde Primary School raised R12 000 by meeting its recyclable material tonnage collection target. This prize money will be used to purchase computer equipment.

“I want to include my pupils in the fourth industrial revolution,” said Mathanyela.

The CCBSA programme allows schools to raise funds by selling recyclable waste to recycling companies.

They also get money for tonnage collection targets – CCBSA pays R2 000 for two tons, R4 000 for four tons and R6 000 for six tons. There is also a R50 000 prize for the winners in the high school and primary school divisions, R30 000 for the two schools that come second and R20 000 for the schools that come third.

More schools received prizes for continued participation, and a group of primary and secondary school pupils were singled out for the individual contributions they made as recycling heroes.

It is up to us to be part of the waste solution

“My vision is to develop a school recycling benchmark programme that other countries will copy.”

Coca-Cola Beverages SA managing director Velaphi Ratshefola. Picture: Dylan Mohlala

With these words, Velaphi Ratshefola, the managing director of Coca-Cola Beverages SA (CCBSA), signed off on another successful school recycling programme.

Now in its eighth year, the CCBSA recycling programme has 805 schools and more than 500 000 pupils actively cleaning up trash in their areas.

CCBSA has invested R45 million into the recycling programme, which has also led to more than 80 young people being employed as recycling representatives, and 36 collectors being trained and supported.

Ratshefola, fondly known as Bra V, beamed during this week’s awards event in Johannesburg.

“This is about educating and training our children to demand and expect a better future. It is our responsibility to be part of the solution to the waste problem. In this way, we are creating a movement that touches all our children,” he said.

The schools involved in the recycling programme collected more than 3 500 tons of trash this year, way more than the target of 2 672 tons. This is a substantial increase in collection compared with last year’s collection of 2 343 tons, and led to 17 336m2 of landfill space being saved.

Ratshefola’s dream is to involve all 25 000 schools in South Africa in this programme, and he has set himself and his company the target of doing this within four years.

“This programme is about changing our culture and making it cool to do things that save our environment. For the children, this is real life education, and they are educating their parents and their teachers. There is no better thing to do than save the world. I am very excited about what we are seeing. I wish my children had made me do this,” he said.

• The schools recycling programme forms part of an international initiative by the Coca-Cola Company called a World Without Waste. In January last year, global CEO James Quincey announced an industry first goal to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can Coca-Cola sells globally by 2030.

“Consumers around the world care about our planet. They want and expect companies like ours to be leaders and help make a litter-free world possible. Through our World Without Waste vision, we are investing in our planet and in our packaging to help make the packaging problem a thing of the past,” Quincey said. – Yvonne Grimbeek

• This article is reported by City Press and paid for by Coca-Cola Africa

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