Encouraging Entrepreneurship and Collaboration through Glass Recycling

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”

– Oprah Winfrey

The Glass Recycling Company (TGRC), which encourages glass reuse and recycling, continues to assist hard-working recyclers and collectors across the country. The on-the-ground TGRC team in KwaZulu-Natal identified an exceptional entrepreneur based in Richards Bay, Happy Khumalo who would benefit from guidance and support. Happy started her glass recycling business in June 2018 and had been steadily growing her business despite facing challenges. As a youngster within her community, she was able to identify an opportunity to create employment for herself by collecting and selling glass.

Happy struggled to find a buyer for the large quantities of glass that she had already spent many hours collecting and packing. In fact, she accumulated 34 tons of broken glass, equivalent to the weight of seven adult elephants! An incredible 34 one-ton bags of glass were stored on her site. After a meeting between herself and the local TGRC team, she was able to tap into TGRC’s network and connect with an existing entrepreneur, Nompilo Recycling to whom she could sell her glass. “Working with The Glass Recycling Company has been a great experience! As someone trying to start a business, I have been able to learn a lot with their help,” exclaimed Happy.

Starting a business is only part of the journey, TGRC works hard at supporting the entrepreneurs in order to ensure that they are able to build a sustainable recycling business, and this includes, for example providing entrepreneurs with bulk bags amongst where they can pack their glass.

“I am grateful to TGRC because they helped me when I found it difficult to remain optimistic about recycling glass and I became motivated again,” said Happy. “We are a now a team of three people in the business and it feels good to be continue supplementing my income and earning my own money.”