potential in Townships. collect-a-can empowers Women Through Recycling

ColleCt-a-Can empoWeRs Women ThRough Recycling

When faced with adversity, a group of women in Orange Farm chose to make use of their resourcefulness and take charge of their futures by seizing opportunities through the recycling of waste.

Every year, in celebration of National Women’s Day on 9 August, Collect-a-Can seizes the opportunity to recognise and applaud inspirational women that they have had the privilege to encounter during the course of their business.

This year, Collect-a-Can was celebrating the ladies from Itsoseng Women’s Project, from Orange Farm, a large informal settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg, who have shown determination, commitment and discipline to improve not only their own lot but also those of others around them.

The Itsoseng Women’s Project aims to bring dignity to the lives of women and children, by providing opportunities of employment, education, nutrition and free legal aid to the community of Orange Farm.

“By creating employment and seizing other opportunities through the recycling of waste, the Itsoseng Women’s Project helps to contribute to greening the environment and raises funds to reinvest in the community’s livelihood”, says Zimasa Velaphi, Public Relations and Marketing Manager of Collect-a-Can.

A group of women, committed to transformation in South Africa, established the project in 1997 when they started collecting waste products including cans, plastic, glass bottles and cardboard, which they sold to larger recycling companies. With the funds they raised, the women established a crèche to assist the mothers who collected and sorted waste for them, and to support other young underprivileged children in the community. The crèche, currently catering for approximately 60 children, also launched a feeding programme to ensure that all the children receive at least one healthy meal every day. The project further invested in skills development for the crèche’s teachers by funding a four year diploma course in child care and early childhood development for all teachers.

Over the past 15 years the project received support from a number of organisations, including a local hardware store, Collect-a-Can, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Social Development, the United Nations Development Programme and local church groups.

With this support the project has been going from strength to strength; currently 30 people are employed to sort waste, seven community care givers work at the crèche, and 70 home based recyclers collect waste in the community.

The Itsoseng Women’s Project also provides income to many unemployed members of the community who sell waste on an ad hoc basis. The success of Itsoseng Women’s Project can be prescribed to the fact that many of its board members are based in the community and are well respected due to the part they play in making an important and valuable contribution to the community.

Collect-a-Can encourages local businesses to get involved with the Itsoseng Women’s Project and other similar projects in the area, by donating used beverage cans to these deserving ladies this not only protects the environment, but also safeguards the lives of many women, children and their families.

“It is critical to create a generation that understands the importance of waste management and recycling,” says Velaphi. “Collect-a-Can encourages those that are unemployed, in particular unemployed youths, to see waste recovery and recycling as an opportunity to earn an income until they can find permanent employment or to supplement low income.”

To find out how to get involved in waste recovery and recycling visit Collect-a-Can’s website www. collectacan.co.za or contact the Collect-a-Can head office on (011) 466 2939. For more information on the Itsoseng Women’s Project find them on Facebook or contact (011) 8503477.