By Matampane Raymond Mokwena
Danone embarked on its yearly drive called the ‘Day One campaign’ which seeks to aid resource shortages in ECD centres by providing COVID- 19 compliant single desks, which are made from recycled Danone plastic tubs.
The initiative donated tables to two ECD centres which are Fairyland ( Boksburg) and Little Lamb Pre-school(Benoni) on January 27.
Kid Nkantsu the Operations Director of Danone South Africa, revealed to Ekurhuleni News, saying: “As Danone we have a vision called ‘One Planet One Health’ and through that vision we are instilling good eating habits and we are trying by all means to institute good practices that will prompt people to keep our environment clean, so we collect and recycle our own Danone plastic tubs, thereafter we convert them into COVID- 19 single desks, then we donate them to various ECD centres as we are doing today.
“Our ‘Day One campaign’ which was established in 2018 strives to lay a sustainable foundation for early childhood development learning, along with promoting environmental cleanliness measures which are beneficial for everyone in the country; we are demonstrating that recycled plastic can be turned into something which is usable and valuable,” he uttered.
He further explained saying that: “The tables that we are donating are suitable for the COVID- 19 regulations because they are in line with the social distancing rule; every child will be sitting alone on his/her table as mandatory in this pandemic.
“We intend to dispense desks to seven ECD schools throughout the campaign, mainly in the City of Ekurhuleni because that’s where our production facility is based, and we plan to distribute desks amounting to 230, in conclusion of the campaign, those tables will be distributed between 27 January and 15 February,” Nkantsu added.
Alett Levington the principal of Fairyland crèche in Boksburg shared in elation, saying: “I’m overwhelmed with excitement; it’s hard to believe that we have been noticed by Danone and now they are taking it upon themselves to assist us; as a country we need to support this ‘Day One campaign’ initiative because through it streets and rivers will be clean; it seems impossible to believe that simple yoghurt tubs can be turned into tables.
“It will also educate and prevent children from littering, however through it they will know the benefits of recycling plastic,” Levington expressed.A five(5) year-old Fairyland crèche learner, Troy Raymond Page, said, “I have learned that collecting plastic and recycling it is very important because our toys and tables are the overall products of that process; I have also learned that littering is wrong and that plastic can be dangerous for most indigenous animals.”
