greenABLE hires disabled people to work at its remanufacturing plant, and was shortlisted for awards for its environmental efforts.
Employees of greenABLE
SA Good News reported on the South African non-profit enterprise run by greenOFFICE, which has “set up a recycling facility with the dual purpose of reducing waste and environmental pollution” while also “offering disabled persons a livelihood”. Local people living with disability “are given training and an opportunity to earn a living”, with the organisation utilising an “innovative solution for remanufacturing empty printer cartridges”.
The remanufacturing allows the enterprise to “provide income-generating opportunities for previously-disadvantaged and unemployed men and women with disabilities”, and its facility also “provides workplace training for their disabled personnel”. The staff “dismantle the cartridges” in the remanufacturing process, and are able to “attend certified courses adapted for school leavers and to access the job market”.
greenABLE also supports budding entrepreneurs with “mobility-restricting disabilities” to become greenAGENTs, who “run their own home-based cartridge collection business and sell the collected cartridges to greenABLE for recycling”. The company points out that “to date over 475 tonnes of waste has been diverted from landfill sites” thanks to greenABLE’s efforts.
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The company recently attended the SEED South Africa Symposium, where it was awarded a SEED Accelerator Award and was also shortlisted “as one of the top 10 SEED winner finalists”. The awards are for entrepreneurship in sustainable development, and are annually given to “the most promising, innovative and locally-led start-up social and environmental enterprises” in nations with “developing and emerging economies”.
With this year marking the 10th anniversary of the awards, the South African public are invited to vote for “which of the top 10 SEED winners should be honoured specifically for their contribution to advanced sustainable development”. Jennifer Higgs, greenABLE’s PR and Fundraising Specialist, stated that “with your help we’d love to bring home a win for South Africa”.