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
    

    Cindy at the sewing machine

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)

SEED Case Study: All Women Recycling – Empowering women in South Africa through plastic recycling (2014)

GREENHEROES (November 2011)

 

Country information

See Encyclopaedia Britannica: South Africa

 

Photos

Lynn Worsley visits CONTIGO in Göttingen (August 2018) 

Pictures from the former workshop: 

   

 

 

Video