People with disabilities turn old tyres to gold
PEOPLE living with disabilities attached to the National Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ) in Bulawayo have proven to all and sundry that disability is not inability through embarking on a thriving income generating project of turning old tyres into usable goods.
The group of 15 people with varying disabilities have shown that treating waste products such as old rubber tyres as a valuable resource can lead to a raft of new and sustainable innovations. Through utilising old rubber tyres sourced for them by a Bulawayo philanthropy, Mr Kutsi Moyo from Beitbridge’s Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) storage facility, the enterprising inmates have embarked on the production of sandals, slinging chairs, flower basin and feeding troughs.
Mr Moyo was given approval by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to obtain old rubber tyres impounded by Zimra at Beitbridge Border Post for utilisation by the underprivileged grouping as a way of improving their livelihoods last year and managed to move 1 000 tyres to Bulawayo during the same year.
NCDPZ Bulawayo co-ordinator Mrs Caroline Moyo hailed Mr Moyo for his gratitude, which has seen people with disabilities generating substantial revenue from selling the products made from the old rubber tyre with a nominal amount being channelled towards other projects being undertaken by the institution.
“We are very grateful to Mr Moyo’s benevolence, which saw him taking it upon himself to source for tyres and even going to the extent of providing a one-month long training course to teach people with disabilities to produce usable products from the discarded tyres. A majority of the beneficiaries are already making substantial amounts of cash, which is going a long way towards improving their livelihoods while some of the proceeds are channelled towards the institutions’ other income generating projects such as the bar, restaurant and wheel chair manufacturing factory,” she said.
Mrs Moyo said beneficiaries of the project are expected to engage in onward training of others so as to ensure that a large number of people living with disability also benefit.
“We expect those that have been trained will on the skills to those that didn’t undergo the training course and that way a lot of underprivileged individuals stand to benefit. We believe it’s a project that will benefit a number of people because as you are aware people living with disabilities have different forms of disability and will tend to work together by way of giving each other different chores in the line of production,” she said.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr Silayezelo Phiri said the project would go a long towards enabling people living with disability to fend for themselves and their families while also warding off the stereotype that people living with disabilities are always beggars.
“We have a lot of disused tyres that are being thrown away while some are destroyed yet we can turn these into various products, which we can sell and get cash. We are, however, finding it difficult to get tubes, which we use to seal the bottom of feeding troughs and we also need old conveyor belts to enable us to produce an array of products,” he said.
A number of accessories are also being constructed from old rubber tyres. Wallets, pouches, bags, purses and backpacks are now being made from the large volume of tyres that need to be recycled.
Rubber tyres present a myriad of problems for the environment. They are slow to degrade, smell bad, and capture rainwater that can breed mosquitoes. Turning tyres into usable goods is an incredible solution to the old rubber tyre problem.
Mr Moyo said he will shift his attention on empowering youths.
“I think I have played my part. I didn’t give people with disability fish but I gave them a rod to catch the fish and they did that, showing to all and sundry that disability is not inability. It’s my wish that Government, corporates and individuals will take it upon themselves to assist this group of people. I’m not by anyway abandoning them but will come from time to time to assist if need be.
“I am, however, shifting my attention to take this project to assist youths especially those from the western suburbs to move away from drug and alcohol abuse and partake in self-helping projects. It’s also my plea that the Ministry of Finance will extend an olive branch by enabling me to continue getting the old tyres as these have proved to be life changing to the less privileged members of our communities,” he said.