MetPac-SA, the Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) that represents the metal packaging recycling industry in South Africa, has once again partnered with [dot]GOOD, South Africa’s leading cause-marketing agency, to expand its Trash4Treats competition to thirty under-resourced schools in the Western Cape. By collecting as much recyclable packaging as possible, these schools put themselves in line to win their share of R50 000.00 which can be used for much-needed school upgrades.

“This inter-schools competition was launched for the first time in 2019 and encourages primary school children, but also their parents, educators, and the surrounding communities to recognise that waste has value. They get to experience the principles of a circular economy in a practical and immediate way, while post-consumer packaging that might have ended up in landfill or the environment, now generates much-needed funds for the schools,” explains Kishan Singh, CEO of MetPac-SA.

The [dot]GOOD team launched this year’s competition at the beginning of the second school term by distributing leaflets and garbage bags to thirty schools in regions like Phillipi, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Heideveld, Nyanga and Mitchell's Plain. They also reminded learners of the specialmetal collection challenge which was sponsored by Metpac-SA. During the next few months, these schools will be encouraged to collect as much metal packaging as possible, including aluminium cooldrink cans, tin food cans, coffee and baby formula cans, paint cannisters and even foil food trays.

“Our awareness campaign started with a fun-filled, in-person activation day during which the Trash4Treats team of educators and our mascot, called Trashy, visited the schools. We explained to the pupils that waste has value and the importance of recycling. In addition, each school also received large, branded collection bins to aid in their ongoing collection efforts,” says Shilpa Rama-Madhav, Senior Account Manager at [dot]GOOD.

As part of the campaign, Trash4Treats also connects the participating schools with local waste collectors who buy back the collected materials at the going rate, thereby helping to form a mutually beneficial and sustainable relationship between the school and the waste entrepreneur that benefits the whole community. 

“The excitement reached fever pitch during July when we had the first of our collection days. We again visited the participating schools, but this time to collect and weigh the metal collections. The grade that collected the most metal was then rewarded with a treat sponsored by the PURA Beverage Company, a member of MetPac-SA”.

Recyclable waste will continue to be collected by the participating schools and all waste will be tallied at the end of the year. The Trash4Treats team will announce which school will be receiving the first prize of R30,000, followed by R15 000 for the second prize and R5 000 for the 3rd prize.

Surrey Primary School in Athlone was one of the new schools that began taking part in the programme at the beginning of the year as a means of raising funds for the school. “We encouraged our learners to collect metal from the community and their homes. The learners are so excited and happy to be making a difference in the community. We are teaching the learners to recycle and care for the environment,” says Mrs Nawaal Williams, Principal of Surrey Primary School.

“Approximately 10 % of the waste collected with the Trash 4 Treats campaign consists of valuable metal packaging, which is the ideal illustration of a circular economy in action since it can be recycled indefinitely. Metal enters the material-to-material loop and is continually recycled, ensuring its availability for future generations. It is a great privilege for MetPac-SA and our members to support this amazing awareness and education campaign by Trash 4Treats which reaches an important demographic of our target audience. We would like to thank all the schools who are part of this initiative. We would like to encourage more schools to participate in this competition by teaching their learners about the importance and value of recycling,” Kishan concludes.