Greening is an art at Chistlehurst School in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal.
The private performing-arts high school – the only one of its sort in Pietermaritzburg and the Midlands – operates off the grid using water tanks‚ batteries‚ solar energy and a small generator.
It also has a frog pond‚ a fish pond‚ a permaculture garden and a recycling village.
And at the end of last year‚ the school bartered its recycling waste for 30 "green" desks‚ made of previously unrecyclable plastic. The school’s Grade 8 maths pupils had the privilege of using the "rubbish" desks on Monday when school the 2017 academic year began.
Jacyn Fanner‚ director of the small high school‚ which accommodates up to 80 pupils with classes of no more than 16, said that when the school started in 2004 it struggled to get the water and lights connected and decided to "make a plan".
"Later, we came to the decision that it was perfectly feasible to operate this way so we never went onto the grid. It also fits our ethos‚" says Fanner. "We bring in drinking water, but all the toilets are linked to our water tanks and the pupils carry buckets to water the garden. It’s amazing how quickly you adapt."
Six years ago, the school started a recycling village through Wildlands Conservation Trust‚ an NGO with programmes in six provinces building a green economy. This entailed establishing bins to collect eight sorts of waste and encourage local residents to drop off their waste at the school.
"Wildlands gives us an annual rebate on the amount of waste we collect‚" said Fanner. "Last year, they offered to barter our waste for 30 ecofriendly desk and chair sets. The kids love them and the teachers are fighting over them. I hope they offer this barter again at the end of the year."
Moira Potter of Wildlands said the green desk project pilot project was a great success.
About 2‚500 desk chair units were bartered for waste at a range of Pietermaritzburg and Midlands schools‚ all operating recycling villages. "Chistlehurst was one of the first we approached, and they jumped at the opportunity‚" said Potter.
The units are valued at about R700 each and made of multilayered plastics that would previously have ended up on landfill sites as not recyclable.
Multilayered plastic increases the shelf life of products such as cheeses‚ biscuits‚ processed meats and sauces‚ and toothpaste tubes. Until now it has not been recyclable.
"We partnered with a Johannesburg-based organisation called Rural Waste Poverty Alleviation. They found a way to mould our plastic waste into planks. These were sent back to us, and we used them to create the desk chair units."
Fanner said the Chistlehurst family kept working to find alternatives to save the planet. "We are working on making our admin block and media centre completely solar powered.
"Everything we have is repurposed and reused. It forces our pupils to think of alternative ways of doing things. It’s a great educational tool."
TMG Digital/Sunday Times
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