The Call-2-Action recycling campaign, which sees 49 schools in the Buffalo City Metro area collect recyclables, has collected 35 tons of waste in the past year.
Deidre Nxumalo-Freeman, director at DNF waste and environmental services, said this was a massive three-ton increase from last year’s 32 tons.
Nxumalo-Freeman said 49 schools had participated. Twenty-seven schools were from Mdantsane, and they participated in the Coca Cola Schools Recycling programme; 22 schools from the Border-Kei area participated in the Call2Action School Recycling programme.
“The DNF waste team collects the recyclables on a weekly basis, and all waste streams [are] collected and weighed,” she said.
The waste streams which the schools collect are paper, plastic, tetra pack [milk and juice cartons], glass and metals.
The top five schools were Lilyfontein School, President Primary School, Stirling High School, Beaconhurst Primary School and St John’s Primary School. These five schools alone collected 17,108 kilograms of recyclable waste.
Nxumalo-Freeman said: “The winning school receives a 10,000l water tank from Ecotanks and the top three schools receive R1,000 cash each from Leader Packaging.
“In addition the top five schools receive a certificate from Call-2-Action, acknowledging their efforts to curb the waste scourge, and also a goodie bag from the ROSE Foundation comprising [of] reusable shopping bags, T-shirts, caps and water bottles for their eco clubs.”..