Minenhle Zwane, 23, makes mats out of plastic waste dumped in townships using his own hands and sells them.
Durban — Seeing townships being polluted by plastic waste and people dumping plastics every day is what inspired Minenhle Simelane to start his own business aimed at protecting the environment and reducing plastic waste pollution in townships including his own, uMlazi.
Simelane, 23, makes mats out of plastic waste dumped in townships using his own hands and then sells them. He started his business this year and he has orders even from as far afield as the Free State.
“Our townships are heavily polluted by plastic waste. Whenever people are using plastics the only thing they do is to dump them not knowing that there are many more things you can make out of plastic waste than just polluting townships,’’ said Zwane.
Zwane, who is unemployed, said his dream was to inspire communities to take full responsibility for protecting townships from plastic waste pollution.
“I’m a person who loves the environment. As much as this is a business idea, for me, it is based on having a solution to protect the environment from pollution. The more my business grows, the more we will have clean townships,’’ he said.
Through his business he wanted to protect the environment and be remembered as someone who played a huge role against environmental pollution, he said.
“My wish is for communities to live in a clean environment for better health. The more we find things to do with waste, especially plastic waste, the more we will have clean townships.
“I want to leave a legacy as someone who played a huge role in fighting land pollution. You can see our townships are very polluted. I want to inspire people in our communities to protect the environment, to not dump plastics,’’ said Zwane.
He has had interviews on various radio stations about his craft and won the aQuelle competition on Ikhwezi FM.
His wish is to employ more youth to meet his customers’ demands.
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