FOR a Fort Beaufort-based recycling and waste management company, the sky is now the limit after receiving a substantial financial boost from the Department of Social Development.
A cheque for the amount of R350 000 was recently handed over to the company at a special ceremony in the Newtown Community Hall in Fort Beaufort.
An elated Laeticia Botha, founder member of Bofolo Recycling, told Mid-Karoo Express in an interview how the company came into existence in January 2016.
“I was motivated by a 65-year-old woman who was collecting bottles, paper and cardboard boxes in the streets of Johannesburg, which she sold in exchange for cash.
“That gave me and my sister, Lee Anne Botha, the idea of moving back to Fort Beaufort and starting a waste management and recycling company with the aim of creating jobs in our rural community.”
According to Botha, they had no capital to start the company.
They merely built it on the pillars of faith and endurance.
They encountered sleepless nights, nerve racking times and even hostility from neighbours who were not content with the idea of them stockpiling material in her mother’s backyard.
Because they had no vehicle, they initially collected material with a handmade cart.
In July 2016 they applied for funding from the Department of Social Development.
They were advised to pull in additional members as government could not fund a company consisting of only two people.
They struggled to engage people who really wanted to work but they were adamant to make the project a success.
“We eventually managed to get people on board after explaining to them that we would only be able to pay them after selling our first consignment of recycled material.”
Thanks to Botha’s cousin, Natasha Abrahams, with the assistance of Botha’s sister, Felicia Abrahams, they managed to secure a loan from the bank with which they could transport their first 32-ton truckload of material to Johannesburg at a cost of R16 000. For this they cashed in R24 000.
With Botha seeing the potential of the business, she persuaded her sister, Yvette Botha, to resign from her permanent job in Johannesburg after which they were in a position to purchase a bakkie for the collection of recycling material.
In January 2017, the Department of Social Development informed them that their application was being considered.
It was during this time that the project was confronted by many challenges.
To keep the company adrift, Botha had to sell all her household goods and seek employment in Johannesburg.
Even the chairperson of the project, Ricco Stapleton, was forced to sell his mother’s car in an attempt to keep the project running.
Family, friends and close relatives had to dig deep into their pockets to pay for the hiring of a baling machine as well as other running costs.
Towards the end of July they were informed by the Department of Social Development that their funding application had been approved.
“Our prayers were finally answered. We are indebted to so many family, friends, church groups and community members who stood by us all the time.
“Thanks to the Department of Social Development we have now purchased our own baling machine and gone are the days when we had to flatten plastic bottles with our feet,” an elated Botha said.
According to Bofolo Recycling, their main aim is to educate people that waste can be converted into cash and in doing so our environment is kept neat and tidy.
They recycle cardboard, plastic bottles, aluminium tins, white paper, transparent plastics, as well as bottles for household detergents.
A local resident in the Newtown community has availed his plot from where the company will now be running its business.
