Cape Town Upcycling Centre

At Hands of Honour we partner with corporations, big business, and individuals who donate their unwanted goods to be upcycled, thereby creating jobs, while reducing reliance on our declining natural resources through the re-use of products and materials. Estimates are that R 17-billion worth of unwanted goods end up in South Africa’s landfills annually; waste which has economic and social value and is able to be re-purposed

The Cape Town Upcycling Centre addresses the following challenges in our communities:

Reverses unemployment through skills transfer.
The aesthetic improvement of run-down physical environments in communities using re-purposed products and materials which have been produced at the Upcycling Centre.
Provides a channel for the effective management of obsolete stock/recyclable waste, thereby minimising how much of it goes to landfill sites
Income generated from upcycled furniture is allocated towards developing mobile Classrooms on Wheels (COWs) for children in under-privileged communities.

Essentially, the Cape Town Upcycling Centre is able to sustain itself, and contribute to a greener city, create jobs, and assist with the reclamation of derelict urban spaces through greening initiatives and aesthetic improvements.

WHITEBOXING

One of the key take-outs of 2020 has been to box smarter, and to constantly look for innovative ways to continue to create employment for marginalised people from the Cape Flats in Cape Town. As a lineal economic model increasingly starts making way for a circular economy, Hands of Honour is well positioned to implement a system of utilising resources in a way where reduction, reuse, and recycling of elements prevails on a far larger scale than it has been doing to date.

It is for this reason that we have started experimenting with the concept of ‘whiteboxing’ of buildings. Whiteboxing, still a relatively new concept in South Africa, involves stripping buildings which are for sale of waste materials such as carpets, tiling, furniture, lighting, and the like, so that its new owners are able to move into a clean shell and start redecorating according to their business needs.

Whiteboxing also allows for training and upskilling opportunities for those working on the project since more experienced artisans are brought into such projects for guidance and mentorship on stripping of waste materials.

Benefits to clients of whiteboxing include cost savings on transport and waste disposal.

Winning ventures being mentored at Hands of Honour

We are a proud recipient of the British Council’s DICE Collaboration Grant. As a result, we have collaborated with the UK-based ‘Living in Minca’ to project manage and host an Upcycling4Change Conference for 70 organisations which are operating in Cape Town’s poorest communities.