EnviroServ launches Shongweni Community Project
Enviroserv to help Shongweni community through alien plant alleviation project.
At the beginning of the year, EnviroServ Waste Managemnt Ltd, a proudly African company with over 35 years’ experience in providing sustainable and responsible waste management solutions, started investigating ways of giving back to the communities around Shongweni.
After a number of meetings between EnviroServ and the Shongweni community leaders, issues that were of utmost concern were identified.
Around the same time, Mrs Mo Mathebula of Tshwaranang Community Project approached the company, requesting funding for projects in Kroonstad in the Free State and KZN. This forged the partnership between EnviroServ and the identified communities.
On 31 July at the Assagay Hotel, the Community Alien Plant Alleviation Project was launched between Enviroserv, Tshwaranang Community Project and Shongweni community leaders.
Mathebula said, “Together we are ensuring long-term employment to residents who will help to eliminate from the environment alien plants, which ever-increasing encroachment has been causing concern for villagers, government, and corporates alike.”
EnviroServ has been involved in a number of social responsibility (CSI) initiatives in the KZN province but this is the first one of this magnitude.
The company’s day-to-day business operations have a direct positive impact on the health of society and the planet in general. However, socio-economic empowerment for the vast majority of South Africans is still desperately needed and calls for direct, hands-on action by those with relevant resources.
The company’s CEO, Des Gordon, said that EnviroServ is very pleased to provide resources to contribute to nation-building and poverty alleviation.
“Waste management and deep care for the environment and its people cannot be separated. Our resources include intellectual capital, insight into society’s impact on the environment, and high-level project and process management capabilities. We put these to work in initiatives focused on alleviating poverty.”
He added, “We are pleased that, where possible and relevant (as is the case with Shongweni and the alien plant alleviation), we contribute social value through projects that relate to sustainability principles and waste handling, particularly waste minimisation through waste reduction, recovery, re-use and recycling.”
