Kidz Paddle receive desks made out recycled yogurt tubs

In February, the company also donated 230 school desks made from recycled yoghurt cups to seven ECD schools in Ekurhuleni.

September 21, 2021

Tayla Smit 2 minutes read

Mfundo Mlambo from Kidz Paddle is happy with his new desk.

Kidz Paddle Preschool in Boksburg recently received a donation of 20 new school desks made out of recycled yoghurt tubs from Danone.
Through Danone’s CSI project, yoghurt tubs are now being transformed to provide school desks.

In 2021, Danone’s One Desk One Child initiative began as a small but incredibly impactful campaign, upcycling yoghurt tubs into school desks for early childhood development (ECD) schools to help children maintain social distancing during the plight of the pandemic.
In February, Danone donated 230 school desks made from recycled yoghurt cups to seven ECD schools in Ekurhuleni.

Acknowledging that plastic waste can be repurposed to give it a second life, Danone put out a call to other corporates to get involved. Pick n Pay, Mpact Plastic Containers and Interwaste have joined the programme.
“Now more than ever, we need to work through collaboration and partnerships to build solutions to protect our people and our planet. The One Desk One Child campaign has kickstarted many of these conversations and relationships,” said Henk van der Hyde, sustainability manager for Danone.

“We started with 13 schools participating as yoghurt tub collection points and with the support of our like-minded partners, we’ve scaled the campaign to reach 100 schools, collecting more plastic, creating more desks, reaching more learners. And we won’t stop there.”

Danone has a commitment of zero waste to landfill by 2030.
Offering their expertise and funding, each partner made a contribution to build the reach and sustainability of the programme.
Pick n Pay’s School Club (an educational platform that reaches two million learners each year) provided the school activation infrastructure to collect more yoghurt tubs and entrench the ever-important message that ‘waste has value’ among learners.

Mpact Plastic Containers donated 87 collection bins to the participating schools: a dedicated space for children to deposit their yoghurt tubs, entrenching the concept of ‘separating at source’.
Consistent with the cause, these unique wheelie bins are 100% recyclable and are also made from upcycled plastic. Lastly, Interwaste manages the collection logistics, transporting the collected plastic from the schools and delivering it to the desk manufacturer partners monthly.

Florence Mahlangu, principal of Kidz Paddle, and educator Jane Mokoena expressed their gratitude to Danone and other stakeholders for the donation.
“Our classroom looks amazing and our parents and children are extremely happy,” said Mahlangu.
Danone have also recently donated 10 desks to Tiny Tots and six desks to Tiny Tigger.