Company Announcement - POLYCO, the non-profit Polyolefin Recycling Company, has donated 12 branded, yellow wheelie bins and 500 rolls of clear refuse bags to the Oasis Association in Claremont, Cape Town and the Breede Valley Association for Persons with Disabilities in Worcester as part of a Social Responsibility initiative. According to Mandy Naudé, Chief Executive Officer ofPOLYCO, both of these charities recently submitted applications to them for funding during the organisations call for proposals from collectors of post-consumer polyolefin waste.  “Although they didn’t meet our criteria for project funding support, we recognized the fantastic work they were doing and decided to donate recycling bins and bags to assist them with the sorting of their plastic waste at both their recycling depots”, Mandy says.

Oasis Foundation
The well-known Oasis Association provides services for people with intellectual disabilities, as well as day centres for children and group homes for adults. They pride themselves in providing stimulation, education, food and care, as well as employment to the adults who are housed at the Oasis Workshops.

“We run workshops that provide opportunities for the disabled at our centre to work.  By teaching them to assist in the recycling projects by sorting and managing the recycling waste that comes through the door, they learn valuable skills that allow our adults to contribute to the workforce and earn some money,” explains Blessing Tsiga of the Oasis Association. The recovery and processing of recyclable or waste materials is Oasis’ largest project. They currently employ 364 workers at the two workshops who, due to the nature of their disability and their need for close supervision, have virtually no prospect of finding employment in the open labour market.  Recycling over 260 tons of waste per month, Oasis has become an important drop-off site for recyclables in the southern suburbs of Cape Town.

“These bins that were donated by POLYCO are a huge help to our workshop as we receive large amounts of recycling daily, and the bins are used to separate plastic materials and store them safely so that they do not deteriorate,” Blessing says.

Breede Valley Association for Persons with Disabilities
The Breede Valley Association for Persons with disabilities is a welfare organization that provides developmental social services to all persons with disabilities residing in the Breede Valley Municipal area.  There is a great need amongst persons with disabilities (especially school-leavers who have finished their training at the Eden Training Centre in Worcester) for a place of employment, continued education, training and the daily companionship of work colleagues.  Breede Valley APD addressed this need by implementing a recycling project which currently employs 17 persons with disabilities. They provide an integrated approach to waste management by dealing with waste in different ways with the aim of reducing the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills and playing our part in saving our environment.

The Workshop Manager at Breede Valley APD, Michelle David, said “With POLYCO donating the 6 wheelie bins and clear plastic bags for recycling, they have made it easier for persons with disabilities to do their daily task. Our premises could get so full at times that we need any storing space we can get.  The clear bags will be used in a new recycling community project where we go into the community and collect recyclables door to door in our rural areas.”  Davids added that the town of Worcester has become a recycling mecca since 2010 when they started the programme.  “Members of the community bring their recycling in large quantities to our premises and with the clear recycling bags POLYCO has donated, we can give our fellow recyclers one new bag for each bag they recycle at their home”, she said. Concluded Mandy:  “We are proud to have assisted both these worthy charities with the new bins that communicate our recycling message.  Although providing and donating recycling bins is not a core focus of our activities, both these associations stood out with their passion for recycling and helping the disabled. Considering our vision of delivering a hand-up instead of a hand-out, we felt that they were both worthy projects to support.  As with our other project partners, POLYCO will continue to build a relationship with them and assist them in growing their collection efforts”.