Dubai (TAN): Emirates has ushered in World Environment Day by converting its old advertising billboards in South Africa into reusable bags.
The airline gathered a total of 517 square meters of advertising banners made of PVC Flex material from across the country, and sent it to Johannesburg where the heavy-duty material was transformed into 200 school bags and 125 shopping bags.
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The upcycling was carried out by Soweto-based entrepreneur Raymond Phiri of Motion Bags, with South Africa-based bag enterprise, Just Bags. The school bags were then distributed among the students of Emfundisweni Primary School in a South African township Alexandra by the Regional Manager of Emirates Southern Africa, Fouad Caunhye. Students were also given stationery and activities books from Emirates’ onboard products for children along with the bags.
Caunhye said the quest for sustainable living was gaining importance, and the need for reducing carbon footprint had reached its peak.
He added: “This project not only gave us that opportunity, but also enabled us to engage with our community in a meaningful way. Partnering with local entrepreneur Raymond Phiri to create items that will bring joy to children, will only strengthen the close bonds Emirates already has with South Africa and its people.”
Raymond Phiri, owner of Motion Bags, said: “This project is very close to my heart because I know what it’s like not to have a bag for school when the other children do. These bags are incredibly strong, water-resistant and will endure. Grade 1 learners that receive these bags will be able to use them until grade 7.”
Principal of Emfundisweni Primary School, Thembakazi Giyama thanked Emirates for the effort.
“To see the happy faces of our students when they received their new bags, was such a delight. It is all the more special knowing that the spirit and sentiment behind these bags is the sustainable future of our children,” she said.
Emirates had launched sustainable blankets produced from 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles in 2017, which by the end of this year, would have used 88 million plastic bottles from landfills, the airline said. Each blanket, made from 28 recycled plastic bottles, uses the patented ecoTHREAD technology.
Caunhye said: “Over the years, we have introduced multiple sustainable best practices which include our sustainable blankets produced from 100% recycled bottles and a young, fuel efficient fleet of aircraft.”
Other sustainable initiatives include a drywash technique to clean aircraft at Emirates Engineering Centre in Dubai, which saves millions of litres of water each year, installation of one megawatt array of solar photo voltaic panels to produce over 1,800 megawatt-hours of electricity every year and saving 800 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions, and using a fuel-efficient fleet of aircraft.
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