When waste is good!

MORIJA – Her mission is to recycle plastics and teach about the dangers of climate change. All she wants is to play her part in reversing damage to mankind’s only home – planet earth. To achieve that dream, Limpho Thoahlane, 27, has set up a recycling company, Pheha Plastics, to drive that agenda. The company which was officially launched earlier this month, manufactures stationery items such as rulers and pencils. “The launch was really a success,” said Thoahlane, adding that her mission “from the onset” was recycling plastic and teach about climate change. “I really want to do something big, something that will have a huge impact on other people and actually leave a mark in a positive way,” said Thoahlane, who has attended several training programmes at the hub about climate change and how to use photography and art to tell stories about the environment and educate people how to care about their surroundings. She said she took to plastic because of its danger to the environment. “I wanted to recycle plastic because it takes time to decompose and it’s the most urgent one to tackle as it takes 450 to 1000 years to decompose. It’s the biggest problem worldwide,” she said. She said it was “natural” for her to get hooked to recycling plastics. She said she didn’t study at any university but attended a six months training course in fashion designing at a Lesotho workers camp. “I couldn’t even finish the course as my mother died and I couldn’t afford to pay for myself so I returned to Morija (her father’s homestead),” she said. Apart from recycling, Thoahlane is a marketing manager at Morija Art Centre, a volunteer at the hub, a writer, filmmaker and a podcaster. As a newly established business, Pheha Plastic is still in the development stages; from advertising to getting people to share in the vision, getting people to buy their products and to understand the importance of taking care of the environment. “I want to answer the question of ‘what is the destination of your waste?’ We are a step there,” she said, adding that she hopes the initiative will teach people about the environment as well as create employment. She said technology plays a vital role in her work. “I am self-taught individual so technology helps me a lot. I learnt almost everything from friends, The Hub and “the university” of YouTube,” she said with a chuckle. She paid tribute to the Flemish government through a company called Hirundo Energy. “The company reached out to me as I was tweeting a lot about climate change and they were impressed with my work so they lent a helping hand.” She said the items produced by her company are not yet on supermarket shelves as the project is still in the development stages. “But, we will be setting that up in the coming days,” she said. She said the project was supposed to begin last November but was affected by the Covid-19 restrictions which blocked her access to machines which were only available abroad. “I was frustrated as to how we would get the machines into the country. Covid-19 continues to affect our work,” she said. She planned to embark on a tour of schools, communities and organisations to raise awareness on issues of climate change and plastic recycling. “We can’t fully do that because of the restrictions, we can’t gather a lot of people for the sessions but we are trying. We have already started sessions at The Hub but with small numbers. Covid-19 is affecting us; even the space is small so the tours and workshops are limited.” Thoahlane said she currently works with four other people and is hoping that the number will grow as the project grows. “We see ourselves in a bigger space with more equipment, a bigger product range and more employees in two to three years’ time and being able to help inspire a waste management structure in Lesotho that actually works.” She says the solution is “not to Ha Ts’osane (dumping site) because it is a short-sighted solution to really a bigger problem”. She added: “I hope that we can collaborate with the government and a lot of people in actually creating a waste management system that is able to help recyclers to collect waste from villages and towns for recycling and making our spaces cleaner and learning about sorting waste, which is something a lot of people don’t know.” “We hope to see more recyclers in Lesotho because the more the merrier; together we can (win the battle).” She says she wanted to be a journalist and film-maker when she was young adding that she still feels she is fulfilling that childhood dream. However, she also said the ability to be able to change people’s lives fascinates her. “What we do help our community, especially those at home struggling to get money as cleaning up the space helps them get a little something,” Thoahlane said. She said her biggest fear was failure. “I struggle a lot with that because I think I am a perfectionist, so I always try to balance that. I only manage by giving myself a break to breathe and start afresh.” She said feedback from people has been “very positive”. “People are shocked and amazed at what plastic can do and they are curious to know more. It keeps me going,” she said, urging the government to prioritize climate change as part of the school curriculum. “Our education system needs to prioritise climate activism, have a proper waste management structure and infrastructure,” she said. ‘Mapule Motsopa