Last month, news network CNN ‘African Start-Up’ profiled cofounders of recycling company Rethaka – Thato Kgatlhanye and Rea Ngwane; the company converts plastic bags into solar panel school bags for underprivileged children.
Up-cycled plastic bags are the main component of the company’s solar panel school bags. The solar panel charges while children walk to school and functions as a light source when they need to study at night.
“The repurposed school bag is an innovation that is basically an up-cycled solar panel backpack. It is made from 20 plastic bags that are up-cycled into a textile,” Ngwane says, adding that a solar panel was integrated because the children they cater to do not have electricity at home.
Rethaka sources plastic from schools, households and landfills. The plastic goes through a washing and sorting process to remove dirt, after which it is subjected to a brand removal process and hung to dry. The plastic is then taken to a station, where it is cut, ironed and sewn into bags.
“Business is amazing – we have managed to do our prototyping phase, pilot to our first school and produce 128 bags since the company was founded last year,” she says, adding that the company currently employs eight people.
“We are young and yet we have to manage a team of people who are a lot older than we are. Being able to keep your cool while talking to a client during a busy production period and falling behind schedule is stressful, but we have managed to deal with those challenges,” she says.
Ngwane notes that she would like to see the school bags go beyond the borders of South Africa and reach other developing countries in the future.