Innovative South African Repurposes Plastic to Make School Bags that Give Gift of Light
It’s a kind of crazy question…with a kind of brilliant answer. How to help solve a trio of problems – child road deaths, fatal fire accidents at home and pollution – in one simple step? The answer: a school bag made out of recycled plastic that has a solar light on it. As Rethaka – the […]
It’s a kind of crazy question…with a kind of brilliant answer. How to help solve a trio of problems – child road deaths, fatal fire accidents at home and pollution – in one simple step? The answer: a school bag made out of recycled plastic that has a solar light on it.
As Rethaka – the women-owned Rustenberg company behind the innovation – points out, plastic pollution costs the world billions and threatens the environment more every day. Kerosene lanterns and alternative means of lighting kill at least three million people a year, mostly women and children. Three children die daily on South African roads, according to SANRAL, and 11.4 million South African learners walk to school daily.
That would be where Repurpose comes in, Rethaka’s funky-designed schoolbags made from a textile spun from plastic garbage bags.
The solar lantern on the bag charges while the child is walking, and can deliver up to 12 hours of light.
If those children are walking early in the morning or after dusk, the light on the bag makes them more visible and safer. Rethaka says it likes to make the designs trendy yet simple, and the retro-reflective textile is durable.
Repurpose teams a donor with a school in need where pupils have long distances to walk, and once the bags are made and ready for delivery to the school, a donation ceremony is organised.
“Through our green innovations, we redefine societal problems into solutions,” says Rethaka, which is a for-profit business. “We make it our business to uncover sustainable opportunities that create a far-reaching impact for low-income communities, with a particular focus on children and women.”
Rethaka also has a link for anyone wanting to create a PurposeTextile bank, for collecting plastic bags that can then be repurposed into the school bags.
More Info
UPDATE January 2017
Here’s an awesome video about Repurpose Schoolbags:
https://www.facebook.com/brightvibes/videos/810075645845743/