December 2018

4th Quarterly Report 2018 (October – December)

During the last quarter of the year we managed to install a biogas digester in a Katlehong school

for the University of Johannesburg (UJ); We continued to train school staff at our various

beneficiary schools where we built vegetable gardens; A lot of our time was spent helping our

Cosmo City beneficiary schools get their Eco-Schools portfolios ready for submission to WESSA; Our

last activity fort the year was teaching pupils from De la Salle to upcycle tyres into chairs, as well as

pallets and bottles into vertical gardens. The most promising development for our last quarter was

us achieving SETA accreditation for our waste management course!

This last quarter was tough for us, a poor economy meant we didn’t receive sponsorship to hold

our annual River Rehab clean stream programme and we were forced to postpone a few other

projects until additional sponsorship could be found.

Biogas Digester – Monde Primary School, Khatlehong – UJ

Pictures above: It took us just over a week to fully install the biogas digester system. We primed

the tank with a slurry from a working biogas digester, which ensured it would produce gas from

the get go. As food waste is added to the digester it displaces the same quantity of slurry. This is

then piped to the blue barrel where it can be accessed and used to fertilise vegetables or it will

overflow into the soak away dug into the ground.

Biogas Digester – Monde Primary School, Khatlehong – UJ

Pictures top: We provide a

series of training workshops

and practical demonstrations

to ensure there is a good

understanding of the

technology and how to best

use the system.

Pictures bottom left: We use a

macerator to grind the food

to a pulp, tap water is used to

flush the food waste through

the wall and out into the

digester. The blue pipe that

can be seen in the picture

brings the methane gas

produced by the digester

back into the kitchen straight

to the gas plate for cooking

food.

Adopt-A-School Fundraiser

Eco-Schools Portfolio assessment – WESSA head office Bryanston

The Adopt-A-School

Foundation is one of our

closest stakeholders and

partners.

Pictures left: Sergio had the

privilege of meeting and

chatting with our President,

Cyril Ramaphosa, at the

Adopt-A-School

foundation annual

fundraiser. President

Ramaphosa is the founder

and chairperson of the

Adopt-A-School

Foundation.

Picture left: Alex and

Marilyn represented Eco

Culture during the Eco-

Schools portfolio marking

session at the WESSA

head offices in

Bryanston. We are

hoping to have two

schools reach their

platinum level for six

years successful

participation in the

programme.

Vegetable Garden training – Rebontsheng Primary

We have realised over the

years that to get people to

include new processes and

systems into their lives you

need to take a hands on

approach and not to

expect people to change

overnight.

Pictures above: Amelia

and Sergio went to

Rebontsheng primary to

give their second

workshop, teaching school

staff to maintain their

vegetable garden which

was sponsored by VW show

of hands.

Upcycling tyres into Chairs – Community Hours – De la Salle

The last two weeks before school closed we were asked by the Community Hours team to come

and assist the grade 10s and 11s complete an upcycling project. The proceeds from this initiative

would be donated to orphanages, skill development centres and old age homes.

Second-hand tyres were

collected from tyre-fitment

centres. They were upcycled into

chairs and donated to a youth

centre.

Up-cycling pallets & bottles into vertical gardens – Community Hours – De la Salle

Simple but effective. We

attached used 2L bottles to the

pallets and used them to plant

various vegetables in. Water

will flow from the top to the

bottom planters.

Green Schools Model project maintenance – Cosmo City

A few years ago we received a sponsorship to erect a fence to stop goats from eating the

veggies from the vegetable garden we had built for the school. Unfortunately the fence was

badly vandalised and portions stolen. We salvaged what we could and relocated the fence to

directly around the vegetable garden. The vegetable garden had fallen into disuse during th e

last two months and we must now begin the process of rehabilitating and replanting.

Green Schools Model project maintenance – Cosmo City Schools

Compost training – Tshilidzi Primary school

Picture top left: The garden we installed in Cosmo primary one is being well used. Their spinach

harvest is looking good!

Picture top right: Andy Ratau has recently joined the Eco Culture team as our technical

maintenance operator. He gets from school to school on his donated bicycle.

Pictures above: Amelia has completed a

series of workshops with Tshilidzi primary

school to teach the ground staff how to

make their own compost from vegetable

scraps, leaves ad grass. The compost will

be used to fertilise the vegetable garden.

By using the vegetable scraps in the

compost we will be limiting the waste

going to landfill.

Cosmo City Community – Sewerage Research and Awareness:

We decided to take a different approach to

create awareness about the causes and

effects of the continuous sewage leaks that

plague Cosmo City.

Picture left: Eco Culture member Marilyn,

conducted research into the topic and sat

with the Journalist and editor of the Cosmo

City Chronical to come up with a strategy for

a series of articles that would shed light on

the scary facts surrounding raw sewage in

our environment.

A big thanks to our sponsors, supporters and stakeholders

(Not in any particular order)