Contents
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- 1 Profile of CONTIGO´s partner All Women Recycling
- 1.1 Products
- 1.2 Location
- 1.3 Founded in 2009
- 1.4 History
- 1.5 Cooperation with CONTIGO since 2010
- 1.6 Structure of the business
- 1.7 Sales
- 1.8 Goals
- 1.9 Special Features
- 2 Fairtrade classification
- 3 Fairtrade aspects
- 3.1 No child labour
- 3.2 No discrimination
- 3.3 Fair wages
- 3.4 Humane working conditions
- 3.5 Transparency
- 4 Monitoring
- 5 Further information
- 6 Country information
- 7 Photos
- 8 Video
Profile of CONTIGO´s partner All Women Recycling
Products
KLIKETYKLIKBOX ™ (short: Klikboxes), gift boxes made from plastic bottles
Location
Cape Town, capital and primate city of the Western Cape province, South Africa – distance to Europe : 9,500km
Founded in 2009
History
- Lynn Worsley is born in 1953 and raised in England. She migrates with her parents to South Africa where she makes a career in theatre, TV and radio. 1977 after her marriage she moves back to England
- 1984: Lynn returns to South Africa. After her divorce she starts her own business with baby body care products. Later on she works as operations manager in a fashion company
- 2008: Her interest in upcycling and green products makes her create her own business, providing work to unemployed black ladies from the townships
- The idea of the first KLIKETYKLIKBOX ™ is born (since 2012 registered trade mark): Pet bottles are purchased from dumps and community street collectors and transformed into marketable trendy and eco-friendly gift boxes
- 2009: All Women Recycling is founded with 8 women (most of them single mothers) from the townships Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, and Philippi
- 2011: Networking activities in South Africa. All Women Recycling is part of an aid programme which is developed by FETOLA as a Finnish “aid for trade” programme, this leads to growing success of the gift boxes on the local market
- 2014: All Women Recycling is the winner of the SEED award (international award for companies and initiatives with sustainable corporate concepts), international support from Flanders (Belgium)
- 2014: The workshop moves to the present-day location, up to then the production has been at Lynn´s private house
- 2016: All Women Recycling is awarded at the design fair „Decorex Cape Town“, best eco stand with sustainable products
- 2016: All Women Recycling receives further awards, amongst others from an Australian programme for sustainable eco entrepreneurship
- 2016 and 2017: All Women Recycling is nominated as the best exporter of the year from the Cape Chamber of Commerce
- 2016: Over 500.000 bottles have been upcycled (appr. 117.000 kg CO2 could have been avoided by not being burned in the dumps)
- 2017: The Belgian Primeminister Geerts Bougeois visits All Women Recycling
- 2017: Extended cooperation with women run companies and initiatives, multitude of net working activities (e.g. the “Naked Baby Project”- U.S.)
Cooperation with CONTIGO since 2010
Structure of the business
Number of employees:
- 13 female employees, all full-time (35 hours per week)
- One employee works at All Women Recycling for 10 years
- Black immigrants from Eastern Cape / South Africa, Congo, Tanzania and Malawi
- Management:
- Lynn Worsley (CEO, sales, education, product development, marketing, trainings: nutrition and fitness)
- Francine Wayi Wayi (floor manager: supervision of the production)
- Ilhaam (production management and deputy of Lynn, responsible for telephone hotline, computer works, work organisation, purchase of materials, HR)
- Cindy Magsun – seamstress
Work environment:
- The two workshops are located in a trade area building (Industrial Village Retreat, Cape Town), in the neighbourhood of many small businesses, divided into
- Factory 1: main office, production and packaging
- Factory 2: sewing and cutting of raw materials
- Current location is better accessible for the women, than the former one. They travel by train or shared taxis from their homes in the townships
Work equipment:
- Factory 1: low-rise building with office, production, packaging room and warehouse, spacious workshop with tea kitchen, toilet, allworkspace
- Factory 2: sewing room, storage room for plastic bottles and drying room for finished gift boxes, work place of Asanti (responsible for washing, first cutting of the bottles, see below „production steps“)
- Used materials:
- Pet bottles are collected by street collecters and donated from companies (as part of their social enterprise development program)
- Paper napkin
Organisation of workforce:
- Daily coordination of the tasks with management and team leaders; once a week meeting with all employees
- There are 4 teams, with two women each, grouped around tables, team changes depending on work requirements
- Each team of two can produce 30 finished klikboxes per day
- Production steps:
- Washing and raw cutting of bottles: soda bottles, water and softdrink bottles
- Pasting of napkins in different patterns
- Attaching of all decorative elements
- Lacquering and drying of the boxes
- Cutting boxes into final shape
- Finishing off, quality control and packaging
Sales
- Exports (95%) to Germany, UK, U.S., Ireland, Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Belgium, Austria
- Home market (5%)
- Own retail shop in Woodstock, Cape Town
- Supplier to gift shops and tourist agencies in Southafrica
- Fairtrade and corporate gifts
Goals
- To develop environmentally friendly products
- To decrease plastic waste
- To support and educate young women from the townships, black ladies, single mothers with skills trainings
- To provide secure incomes
- To establish a consciousness for the environment
- To create jobs for people with physical disabilities (e.g. deaf and dumb people), therfore All Women Recycling is registered at the South African Disabled Association
- To introduce inspirational women to give talks each month to encourage personal growth
- To develop and educate new skills (e.g. sewing, jewellery production in cooperation with an other South African workshop), to introduce new ranges
- To reorganise the company´s structure: employees shall be shareholders and shall participate at the operating profit, with the aim to set up a savings account, to buy private houses in the townships
Special Features
- Upcycling: old plastic bottles are used completely
- Bottom of the bottles are processed into upcycling products
- Middle part of the bottles are processed to greeting cards and name tags (e.g. for trade fairs and other events)
- Cap of the bottles are shredded: earnings from selling this material are invested into new wheel chairs for people with disabilities or donated to children in need
- Encouragement of the employees:
- Development of personal skills, to strengthen self-confidence, training of verbal skills and expressing oneself
- Financial independance (own bank account)
- Savings, in order to buy property
- Further educational offers (see below)
Why does CONTIGO work with All Women Recycling: brilliant idea, creative products, harmonious, clean, and relaxed work environment.
Fairtrade classification
FTA PLUS = Fairtrade Approved PLUS
Fairtrade aspects
All Women Recycling complies with the following Fairtrade Principles:
No child labour
No discrimination
No discrimination due to gender, disability, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political orientation, or infection with HIV
Fair wages
- Official South African minimum wage (since January 2019): ZAR 3,500/month, full-time job with 40 hours per week (ZAR = South African Rand)
- At All Women Recycling:
- Employees work 7 hours a day (35 hours a week) due to long journey to work
- New employees in training receive ZAR 140/day
- Skilled employees receive up to ZAR 200/day
- All employees receive fixed salaries (basis: daily wages, no piece rate)
- Weekly payment of salary to employees’ own bank account (two employees are not allowed to open a bank account, they receive cash payment)
- Salary is increased yearly by appr. 10%, or when taking more responsibility
Humane working conditions
Working hours:
- 7 hours/day (9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., long arrival to the Townships, therefor early end of work)
- Regular breaks with free beverages (tea and coffee), every employee brings her own lunch. In case that lunch has been forgotten, Lynn provides free bread and cold cuts
- 5 days/week
Social benefits:
- Paid holidays (three weeks summer holidays, from 22.12. till mid of January)
- Continuous payment of salary in case of sickness, accident or while on parental leave (according to statutory rules)
- Contributions are paid to governmental UIF (= Unemployment Insurance Fund), employee and employer pay each 1% of monthly gross salary
- Loans provided, e.g. in case of family emergencies (loans are set off against future salaries and paid back)
Educational opportunities:
- Teaching different production steps, all-round applicable
- All Women Recycling offers different courses, by externals:
- HIV prevention training
- Trainings for health, nutrition, hygiene and well-being
- Self-defence
- Introduction of wellness days with massages and other wellness activities
- All Women Recycling encourages the employees to open up their own businesses:
- Lynn supports them by teaching business management and organisational issues (e.g. to develop a business plan, price calculation)
- At current three employees prepare to open their businesses
- Up to now 27 former employees could open start-up businesses
Occupational safety:
- Working gear is sewn by Cindy (professional tailor, works at All Women Recycling since 2016)
- Protecting clothing (e.g. gloves) are provided
- One employee is a trained First Aider
- All safety standards are met
Transparency
- Work contracts are available
- Payroll is available
- Pay slips are available
- SAR (Self Assessment Report) was duly submitted to CONTIGO
- Annual reports submitted
Monitoring
- Personal visits in Kapstadt (2010, 2011, 2012, 2017)
Further information
Lynn Worsley: Empowering, Upcycling and Creating (June 2016)
Country information
See Encyclopaedia Britannica: South Africa
Photos
Lynn Worsley visits CONTIGO in Göttingen (August 2018)
Pictures from the former workshop: