Nelson Mandela Bay’s magic Mula recycling project can now take plastic bags.
The good news could take the award-winning project to new heights, making further inroads into litter-clogged areas around the Bay – and will mean more opportunities for poor communities.
The Uitenhage Mula Project was presented at the 2018 Summit on Environmental Health at Nelson Mandela University on Thursday, where it sparked enthusiastic applause and debate.
The project, named national public campaign winner in the Petco recycling awards in June, has so far focused its attention on polyethylene terephthalate plastic cooldrink bottles and cardboard.
Using these recyclables, it has been making great strides towards helping the poor and cleaning up the environment.
But now the Mula partnership could up the ante, Mula Uitenhage co-founder Quinette Goosen said during a break in summit proceedings.
“The recycling company we work with said they can now take any kind of plastic, including plastic bags.
“It was music to my ears. “Now we can start to get rid of those terrible ‘plastic flowers’ on every fence.”
Goosen said she had started the project three years ago with Glenise Howard and Olive Grimsel after learning about a similar initiative in Jeffreys Bay.
They took the Mula message to two Uitenhage schools and from there the word spread like wildfire.
Today up to 350 youngsters at a time from some of the Bay’s poorest communities – Joe Slovo, Kabah, Gerald Smith, Mandelaville and Blikkiesdorp – gather every Wednesday afternoon at the Mula premises in Kamesh’s Allanridge Centre.
There they hand over their collected recyclables to be weighed, and in return they receive Mula points – to be exchanged for food, toiletries, stationery, clothes or toys.
The 25-member project team – including seven retired schoolteachers and two former headmasters – receives, sorts and packs the incoming recyclables before handing them over for collection to Mula’s partner recycling company, Buff.
Former Brandwag High School teacher Goosen said the aim was to open the children’s eyes to possibilities.
“We show that through recycling they can live without begging or turning to crime.
“We teach them discipline – that’s what it takes to collect the rubbish during the week, to be ready for Mula Day.
“When they are at the centre they have to queue.
“They learn respect for each other and the system.
“Overall it’s a win-win-win for these kids, their households and the environment which they are cleaning up.”
Nelson Mandela Bay municipal deputy environmental health director Dr Patrick Nodwele said the Mula Project dovetailed perfectly with the metro’s Love Where You Live educational health and hygiene project for the disadvantaged.
“Cleaning up our city is probably top of our agenda, and if we can put these two projects together then we can truly get results.”
The summit brought together municipal environmental health practitioners from around the Eastern Cape and outside experts in the field.