Green desks help schools and environment
HUNDREDS of children in KwaZulu-Natal have begun to take delivery of new school desks and chairs made out of old plastic bags, sweet packets and other plastic waste.
Known as the Green Desks scheme, the project aims to kill two birds with one stone.
First, it aims to provide much-needed desks and chairs, especially for poorer schools.
The second objective is to reduce plastic pollution in the sea, rivers and general landscape by encouraging schools to recycle waste into something useful. Initiated by the Wildlands Conservation Trust earlier this year, nearly 200 desk and chair units have been distributed to schools in the Pietermaritzburg and Midlands area.
Previously, nearly 80 schools involved in the Wildlands recycling scheme would receive cash rebates based on the volume of plastic, glass, paper and other recyclable materials they collected – with Northdale Primary School in Pietermaritzburg receiving R70 000 for waste collected last year.
Wildlands sustainable schools manager Moira Potter said schools were now being encouraged to barter their recycled plastic in return for a classroom of 30 Green Desks, with each desk and chair unit valued at R700.
Since the new pilot project was launched a few months ago several private schools had offered to donate their recycling rebates to poorer schools within the recycling network.
St Anne’s Diocesan College had donated its Green Desks to Fezokuhle Primary in iMbali. St Johns had made a similar donation to Copesville Secondary School, while Russell High School had donated desks to Alston Primary.
Potter said Michaelhouse and Howick High had expressed interest in similar donations to nearby community schools.
Because the desks and chairs are durable and weatherproof, Chistlehurst Academics and Arts school in Pietermaritzburg has used them to create a new outdoor classroom under the trees.
To make the desks, several plastic products once considered difficult to recycle are now sent to a company in Johannesburg which has developed a new method to grind, extrude and densify the plastic into planks. These are sent back to the Wildlands recycling centre outside Pietermaritzburg where they are cut and assembled into desk units.
Potter said she was optimistic that many other recycling schools would jump at the offer to get involved and help out schools with desk shortages. Businesses are also being encouraged to buy or donate the desks to schools.
For more information, contact Hanno Langenhoven at hannol@wildlands.co.za or visit www.wildlands.co.za.