Mmopane youth recycle tyres to make beautiful chairs

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane
Correspondent | Friday May 4, 2012 00:00

 

Now a group of innovative Mmopane youth have started to make gorgeous outdoor or garden chairs using recycled tyres.

One of the pioneers of the project, Matla Ramotswaledi, has told Arts & Culture that they started the project with the help of their councillor Kabelo Mokgalajwe after seeing a certain man from the community who sold tyre chairs but did not seem to have really used its profits frugally. 'We approached him and asked him to teach us how to make these chairs of which he agreed. We have merged with him and he has taught us how to cut the metal and make better chairs. Even though we copied his idea, we have introduced some innovations to make our chairs more appealing to our clients,' Ramotswaledi told Arts & Culture.

He said that even though this job is demanding they are working hard with the help of Mokgalajwe who bought them some welding and drilling machines including some of the materials they use.  He added that they use his car to collect old tyres at the dumping site.

'This project also contributes to environmental conservation through recycling.  We select quality tyres, as we do not want them to irritate the user.  We look at the size and damage of the tyre,' he added. Ramotswaledi said that after selecting good tyres, they wash them and make holes using drilling machines.  He said that they then use ropes of different colours to produce high quality but cheaper chairs.

'We do different designs or patterns that suit our buyers.  We then join tyres using bolts and nuts to make them firm.

We cut the metal in different shapes and/or designs. We can also paint the tyres in any colours that the client wants and patterns,' he said.  These beautiful chairs have arms have a bottle stand on one side while the other arm has a stand that can either hold a cell phone or booklet.

'We also make stools that can also be used as tables. We would like to make chairs that can be used in the house.  We would will cover them with leather and make them more comfortable and suitable for use in the lounge,' he said.

Even though the group has the ability, passion and big dreams, like other small and medium entrepreneurs, the Mmopane lads are faced with financial constraints. 'We are more than ready to take our project to the next level but we are facing many challenges such as machinery breakdowns and shortage of machines.  We are also faced with a major financial shortage,' he said.  He said that even though they have financial crisis they have not asked for assistance from the government's Youth Fund because the procedure is too complex and takes time.

'We have approached our Village Development Committee (VDC) whom we wanted to merge with to help us move this project to the next level.  We have to buy fuel, we need more trucks to transport tyres from the landfill to the workshop and need more manpower,' he said.

Ramotswaledi said that the main objective of this project is to create jobs for the youth in the Kweneng region.  He said that they are interested in selling their chairs to corporate entities and individuals. 'Our President Ian Khama, who was given a chair recently during his visit at Mogoditshane Kgotla, has bought some of these chairs.

'The President liked our chair and his office bought 10 chairs that we hear are being used at the State House while the Minister of Education and Skills Development, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and our Member of Parliament (MP) bought four chairs each,' he added with a grin.  He said that more people were also interested in their chairs so the potential for growth is limitless.