Imizamo Yethu is receiving desks made from recycled materials that were collected during the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon in partnership with Wildlands.
Wildlands developed #GOGREEN which is supported by Old Mutual. They are an environmental non-profit organisation dedicated to uplifting poor communities by offering recycling. They currently run 12 different programmes that uplift communities across South Africa.
Their #GOGREEN initiative saw them collecting waste at various big races and using the recycled materials to build desks for schools.
They recently collected 2700 kgs of recycled plastic at this year’s Old Mutual Two Ocean Marathon. Wildlands used this to build 45 school desks for school children of Ikhaya le Themba in Imazamo Yethu in Hout Bay. The area has been destroyed by fires multiple times this year so the donation is a welcome one.
“We created this nice big bin and placed them all over the route of the Two Oceans and collected all the waste that was placed in there, turned them into planks and created school’s desks.” – Lauren van Nijkerk, deputy director for Marketing at Wildland Conservation Trust.
South Africa has a shortage of over 300,000 school desks so Wildlands decided to use the excessive amount plastic at popular races for good. The schools that receive the desks are schools that are in need.
They have also implemented this at the Comrades and hopefully all future races to come. A total of 333 desks were made from the waste collected at that race. The desks were then distributed to schools in KwaZulu-Natal.
This new method of recycling is benefitting South Africa in the best way, keeping our landfills plastic free and giving children the opportunity to learn in a proper school environment. We love it!
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