Beach cricket sets made from reused waste

Kriki for Shore beach cricket sets encourage local communities to "play clean" with beach cricket sets that help clean up beaches, while educating young South Africans on the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling waste.

Each Kriki for Shore beach cricket set is created using waste material, including plastic and bottle tops collected from South African beaches, creating work opportunities for coastal community crafters and waste collectors.

There are two different types of Kriki sets: 100% hand-made sets that focus on a message of "reusing" waste (each bat is made entirely from waste material collected in coastal communities); and moulded plastic sets made from 60% recycled plastic that aim to educate on how useful waste plastic can be. Each set includes a bat and a ball and wickets.

This initiative follows on from the successful and well-supported EnviroServ Touch rugby ball initiative launched last year. Touch rugby balls are made from recycled billboards and plastic packets collected from the streets of local communities.

Twenty needy helped so far

K.E.A.G., a leading environmental NPO that specialises in managing projects that create employment opportunities to address environmental needs, is managing the waste collection for the Kriki sets and has partnered The Harlequin Foundation, which has an existing craft skills development project to make the bats. To date, 20 adults: 14 women who are sole bread winners and six disabled crafters, will benefit from the skills and work generated through Kriki for Shore, by creating the high-quality beach cricket sets. The more orders the initiative gets the more people that can be trained and the more days of work that can be provided.

Each Kriki for Shore set that is ordered generates two days of work for a craft art trainee. Kriki for Shore sets will retail at R185 each with profits being reinvested toward making more sets.

"Kriki for Shore is part of EnviroServ's 'Play Clean' CSI project, which looks at ways of getting South Africans to have fun while cleaning up their environment," said Delia Lavarinhas' EnviroServ's marketing director. " In keeping with our brand slogan 'Raising the Waste Game' we thought what better way to communicate this, than once again to show how useful and fun sports equipment made from waste can be. "

For more information go to Kriki For Shore on Facebook or follow on Twitter @kriki4shore. To order sets, email az.oc.skrowignobm@1recudorp or call +27 (0)76 656 8370.