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The White Shark Projects’ Recycle Swop Shop in Masakhane has been honoured by PETCO (PET Plastic Recycling South Africa) with the award in the category “Best Recycling Public Education Programme”.
The award was received at the PETCO AGM Awards Ceremony on the 7th of June 2017.
There to receive the award was Charmaine Beukes, Owner Manager of White Shark Projects, and Nellie Moolman, Manager of The White Shark Projects Recycle Swop Shop in Masakhane, Gansbaai.
“Two months ago we were informed by PETCO that we were nominated for a PETCO Award,” Charmaine said. “PETCO, with a professional film crew in tow, visited the White Shark Projects’ Recycle Swop Shop in Masakhane to witness and document this well-oiled recycling collection machine based in the community of Masakhane.”
She said PETCO was impressed with the fact that the children of Masakhane managed to collect an ave-rage of 15 tonnes of recyclable materials per year. Add that to the environmental education the children receive and it equates to an evergreen solution to waste responsibility.
The Swop Shop
The White Shark Projects’ Recycle Swop Shop has been operating since 2007 and is an empowerment initiative for children in Gansbaai, with a three-fold aim:
Educating children about recycling and the benefits of keeping their community clean; Teaching them trading skills and establishing a culture of working for a benefit - nothing in life is free, if you want something, there is always a way to work for it; Providing children with basic school supplies, no child has a reason to go to school without a pen or a book.
Operating procedures
The Swop Shop operates on Tuesday afternoons. The children bring bags of tins, bottles, plastics and other recyclable rubbish from the streets to the Swop Shop in Masakhane. The Swop Shop opens at 14:00 but long before that time the children are already gathering in lines with their recyclables in bags and even in wheelbarrows!
In return for these recyclables, the children receive points relating to the quantity of recyclables brought to the Swop Shop. These points are then swopped for goods in the ‘shop’. The Swop Shop is stocked with school supplies, toiletries, second hand clothing and some toys.
PETCO and PET
In 2016, it was estimated that 56 million tons of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) are produced each year.
That is an unimaginable amount of plastic, most of which is only used once and then discarded, sometimes, not very responsibly.
This is where PETCO comes in to help rescue the day. PETCO takes responsibility, on behalf of the PET industry, to find environmental solutions for post-consumer PET plastic and to educate everyone (from schools to municipalities) on the value of recycling PET bottles. Basically, they want to inform people that PET bottles are just too valuable to simply throw them away!
PET bottle recycling is more practical than many other plastic applications because of the high value of the resin.
White Shark Projects was congratulated for keeping their Recycle Swop Shop running and growing since its inception 9 years ago. PETCO also congratulated the children of Masakhane for their dedication and hard work.
“Once more the children of Masakhane teach all of us that OUR waste is OUR responsibility, regardless of our age or our socio-economic status,” Cheri Scholtz, CEO PETCO said.
On winning the award Charmaine Beukes said: “We could not do this without the hard work and dedication of Nellie Moolman that runs the project; our White Shark Projects team and all the volunteers who are always willing to help; friends, family and industry colleagues who help by donating stock. And the real stars of course, the children from Masakhane who are so diligent in recycling and bringing their recyclables to us.”
