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MBABANE – Ngwenya Glass has scooped a global award for its outstanding role in reducing carbon prints in the planet.

The company that produces 100 per cent recycled handmade glassware, tableware, ornaments, art glass and lighting scooped a gold award from the World Travel Market Africa Responsible Tourism Awards 2023 which were held in South Africa over a week ago. The awards were established in 2004. The 2023, Awards were split into four regions: Africa, India, Latin America, and the rest of the world. Each region’s winners will go forward to compete in the Global Awards at WTM London this year.

The annual awards aim to discover, recognise and promote good practice. They recognise businesses and destinations that make responsible tourism their focus, to ensure they are discovered and celebrated, showing how they are cultivating change and pioneering creative projects that revolve around the wellbeing and sustainability of tourism and looking after the people and the landscapes that allow the industry to thrive.

The categories included Best for Tackling Plastic Waste, Best for Meaningful Connections, Best for Local

Sourcing, Craft and Food, addressing climate change, Best for Diversity and Inclusion and Best for Nature-positive Tourism.

Ngwenya Glass scooped the gold award under the Best for Local Sourcing Craft and Food category alongside Mauritius.

According to a press release that was issued by the WTM Africa Responsible Tourism Awards 2023, the judges were impressed by this outstanding craft enterprise, which produces ‘glassware with purpose, the GLASS is greener on our side’. According to Ngwenya Glass Director Chas Prettejohn, they re-purpose old bottles into handmade glass ornaments and tableware.

Furnace

They melt between 600kg and one tonne of broken bottles daily, in a furnace burning an 85/15 blend of used cooking oil mainly from KFC and paraffin.

All the craft products are mouth-blown or hand sculpted by talented Swati artisans producing 1 500 pieces daily. Around 59 employees turn waste glass into ‘products with a purpose’ sold in seven continents.

The organisation stated that the products during the awards were assessed against the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s measuring tool for a Circular Economy and Ngwenya Glass scored A-, way above average C. They also noted the solar panels that provide electricity when the sun shines and use harvested rainwater and recycled paper in their production and packaging.

Ngwenya Glass attracts 50 000 international tourists on guided tours yearly. They accommodate 13 other boutique shops in their indigenous garden, all selling locally produced art and craft, including artisanal chocolate and gin shops.

In 2007, Ngwenya Glass started collaborating with other Swati handcraft producers, also involved in tourism in the kingdom, resulting in the eSwatini Fair Trade (SWIFT).

Ngwenya Glass regularly hosts a design workshop, inviting designers and glassblowers from Europe and South Africa to ensure they stayed ahead of the world’s design trends and remain a leader in the Southern African art glass community. They also raise considerable sums for local charities each year.

Meanwhile, Eswatini Tourism Authority Marketing Manager Siboniso Madlopha said the recognition would put Eswatini at an advantageous space when it came to tourism.

He noted that tourism in the world shifted from just seeing new animal species but sustainability had become a contributing factor

Speaking about the two oxygen plants, the minister said they met all required standards to produce oxygen for consumption by patients in

SOME OF THE WINNERS: Best for Tackling Plastic Waste –

Gold: Lemala Camps and Lodges in Tanzania

Best for Meaningful Connections

Gold: Uthando South Africa

Silver: Happy Soul Adventures in Botswana

Best for Local Sourcing, Craft and Food

Gold: Mauritius

Gold: Ngwenya Glass in Eswatini

Silver: Artisans in Uganda

Addressing Climate Change

Gold: Mauritius

Gold: Weeva in South Africa

Best for Diversity and Inclusion

Gold: Birdlife in South Africa

Silver: Liveable in South Africa

Best for Nature-Positive Tourism

Gold: Wildlife Act in South Africa

Silver: Birdlife in South Africa too. Madlopha said seeing a local company scooping such an award was adding more points for Eswatini.