Brett Horner
22 September 2002
Johannesburg — WOMEN from an impoverished community in Zululand are being inundated with orders from overseas countries for their fashionable hats and accessories made from discarded plastic shopping bags.
Orders for the brightly coloured brim hats, handbags and mats have streamed in from 19 countries and one Australian distributor said she had already received about 20 consignments for the various items, which were selling "like hot cakes" along the Great Barrier Reef.
The 132 unemployed women from Obanjeni, near Mtunzini on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, who use about 30 000 plastic bags a month, have so far sold goods valued at more than R400 000.
Locally, the hats and handbags are sold for R20 each and the beach bags for R40 at conferences, holiday parks, garden shows and flea markets .
Established by Jenny Kirkland, the So Afr -Eco Community Upliftment Project in Obanjeni has also helped to rid the area of litter. Kirkland said she now had a team of 600 housewives collecting discarded packets for her after the bags became scarce in Zululand.
At least 30 plastic packets, each one cut into strips of twine, are used to make just one hat. The twine is woven with crochet needles or old "Zulu" looms.
"The ladies get every cent of the sale price, and contribute 10% of their overall income to a trust which funds an adult literacy course," said Kirkland, adding that 41 of the women had already benefited from the literacy programme.
Countries which have imported the plastic goods include the UK, US, Poland, Sweden and Canada.
"I got a phone call from a woman in Israel who saw someone wearing one of the hats on a bus. She said she loved them, tracked me down and placed a R3 000 order for hats. A similar thing happened with someone in Poland," said Kirkland.
Kate Ashmore from Cairns on the Australian east coast said the hats were being snapped up by dive-boat operators, scuba divers and surfers, while tourists passing through the town were buying matching hat and handbag sets.
"They are popular over here on the Great Barrier Reef, particularly among the younger group," she said.
"Customers love the fact that they come from African women and are made of plastic."
In Australia, a hat made for adults can fetch R145, a beach bag or handbag R200 and a large beach mat R290.
Ashmore said she was hoping to visit South Africa over Christmas and take home a "shipload" to satisfy demand, which has already spread 600km south to the Whitsunday Islands.
Sibongile Zulu, the chairman of the Obanjeni Women's Group, is one of the top sellers, earning about R1 500 a month from sales.
Zulu, a widow, said that prior to joining the project she had no income.
But with the money she was now earning, she was able to put her four children through school.
"We are all struggling in our community, so this has helped us all survive and we love doing it," she said.
The women are also supplementing their income by training communities from around the country to weave hats and handbags. Together they have trained about 30 000 people.
Regina Vundla said she fed her five children and two grandchildren on the income she earned . Also a widow, she said that since last year she had been forced to make the 200km trip to Ulundi to receive a meagre pension - a journey she could not always make.
"So the money I get from selling plastic hats and mats feeds all of us and pays the children's school fees," said Vundla.
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa commended the community for an "outstanding contribution" to his department's war against waste. "This goes a long way in cleaning our countryside and it sends a powerful message to our country at a time when issues of waste management are topical," he said.
See www.sundaytimes.co.za/lifestyle/fashion
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