O Global Alliance Africa, a project delivered by Innovate UK KTN and Unilever, announced Sharon Rapetswa as the winner of its Innovation Exchange Challenge, designed to help the multinational consumer goods company find inventive solutions and innovative approaches for developing new circular business models for reusing and recharging plastic.
With its refillable detergent carton idea set to revolutionize plastic waste management in rural communities, Rapetswa will now receive £25.000 in milestone-based seed funding, along with training and mentoring, to help develop its solution.
Despite growing calls for sustainable consumption, only 3% of rural households in South Africa actively recycle their waste, with many resorting to the practice of burning rubbish.
However, this is because South Africa also has a weak and strained waste management system, with 35% of households not receiving weekly rubbish collection and another 29% of households having no rubbish collected at all.
To address this issue and help the world's leading manufacturer of household goods reduce its use of plastic by 100.000 tonnes, Unilever partnered with Global Alliance Africa to host an Innovation Exchange Challenge, which sought to explore how reuse and packaging refilling could be adopted to reduce the amount of waste produced by households in rural communities.
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Businesses, organizations and individuals from across South Africa were invited to submit proposals, with the challenge generating a range of responses. After much deliberation by a team of industry and environmental experts, Sharon Rapetswa, the founder of Triple Shine Detergent Solutions, was chosen as the winner.
Founded in 2016, the company has developed a new line of refillable plastic packaging for Unilever's bleach, detergent and fabric softener products.
The idea, says Rapetswa, came about during his research on waste management practices in rural communities:
"Across the country, the same line of plastic products was being discarded monthly by rural households. But due to the lack of proper waste management services, recycling was an unavailable option. I realized that in order to help these communities consume more sustainably, we needed to build on the existing culture of reuse and refill that has been practiced for years."
Upon winning the challenge, Rapetswa will now receive £25.000 in milestone-based seed funding, along with training and mentoring, to help develop its solution.
"As a global company leading the way in creating a cleaner future, we are keen to do all we can to reduce single-use plastic in South Africa and are excited to be working with Sharon to build on her ideas and create sustainable solutions. for our home care products that can build local businesses based in some of the country's most vulnerable communities. “, said Judisha Naidoo, Homecare R&D Director at Unilever.
