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WEDNESDAY May 8, 2013 |0 041 503 6111 | Email express@media24.com | peexpress.mobi | www.peexpress.co.za
EDITOR: BETTIE GILIOMEE
Pupil’s recycling design could save lives REPORTER
A
Theodor Herzl High School teenager’s ingenious idea to turn empty crisp packets into protective ‘space’ blankets will help keep the homeless warm and dry this winter and could even protect them from hypothermia. The school is running a drive to collect hundreds of empty large and small plastic chip packets, which are then carefully sliced open and patched together to form windproof, waterproof blankets that will retain body heat in the same way that emergency first aid blankets do. Grade 10 pupil Christie Vaughan (16) had the brainwave after a personal experience with hypothermia after she’d swum the Nelson Mandela Bay Bell Buoy Challenge in Algoa Bay last year. “After my swim I was disorientated and the paramedics wrapped me in a space blanket. Within minutes I was feeling so hot! I am passionate about charity and wanted to make a difference in some way. When I investigated the material that space blankets are made of, I realised that chip packets are made of very similar silver plastic foil. Instead of just throwing empty packets away, we could put them to good use and help people too!” she explained. A space blanket is a plastic insulating body wrapping which reflects back most of the body heat lost by radiation. It is carried by climbers and mountaineers in case of exposure, as well as by paramedics and other emergency rescue workers. Christie and her Theodor Herzl school friend Sonali Madhoo embarked on a drive to collect as many packets as possible, with recycling bins donated by Mpact Corrugated set up around the primary and high school
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I am passionate about charity and wanted to make a difference in some way. When I investigated the material that space blankets are made of, I realised that chip packets are made of very similar silver plastic foil. CHRISTIE VAUGHAN
for pupils to deposit their packets into. The project has also been adopted as one of Theodor Herzl’s Eco Club’s chief outreach activities and will contribute to Theodor Herzl’s status as an environmentally aware ‘Green Flag’ school. The teens have also encouraged other schools to join the drive and plan to consult with local communities via the school’s partnerships with Walmer High School and the Nanaga Village near Colchester about the best way to distribute the blankets to the destitute once produced. “The more chip packets we collect, the fewer pile up in landfills and the more blankets we can make to benefit more people,” Christie said. Theodor Herzl Grade 10 pupils, Sonali Madhoo, left, and Christie Vaughan, wrapped up in one of the windproof, waterproof ‘space’ blankets which they plan to produce and manufacture to help the homeless keep warm and dry this winter. PHOTO:SUPPLIED
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