White Shark projects have been running a community based project, they have a swop shop of necessities for children who bring in recyclable goods
Petco recently hosted their annual Recycling Award ceremony and crowned the White Sharks Project Recycle Swop Shop as one of the Best Recycling Public Education Programmes of 2017. The Swop Shop is set up at a township in Gansbaai, Western Cape and is used as a way to educate the youth about recycling and ocean pollution.
The White Shark Projects focus on the conservation of sharks and the ocean, one cannot work with the one if they don’t also tackle the pollution issue. This led to the creation of a programme to educate children about recycling and offering rewards for doing so.
“Masekhane White Sharks Projects Swop Shop, which trades on Tuesday afternoons and caters to the needs of children in the surrounding Masekhane community.”
“The children collect recyclables such as plastic tins, bottles, toys, etc which earns them points. The children are then able to exchange these points for necessities such as soap, stationery, second hand clothing and food basics, plus a few toys and luxury items if they save their points till they can be afforded.”
“The success of the initiative is evident by the queues of children who excitedly wait outside the shop long before the 2pm opening time and the delight on their faces when they leave with their precious purchases.”
The rewards are fully funded by the company. Last year, an astonishing 14 940 kg of recyclables were collected by 6 054 kids, which would have otherwise ended up in the ocean. The shop is so popular that Masakhane is one of the cleanest communities in South Africa!
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