Clean Trade

🎉The Birthday Fun Continues! 🎉

What better way to celebrate a birthday than by giving back to our beautiful community and our environment! 🌍♻️

Clean Trade was founded with two important goals at heart: tackling environmental pollution while also addressing unemployment and hunger in our community. 💚

So, as part of our birthday celebrations, we were thrilled to collaborate with Imibala Trust, Vuyani Safe Haven - Graaff-Reinet - South Africa and Great Karoo Wilderness to combine education with action — teaching our young people about environmental pollution and then getting stuck in to make a real difference! ♻️

On Thursday afternoon, more than 50 enthusiastic children from Imibala and Vuyani, together with wonderful community volunteers, took on the challenge of cleaning the picnic area on the outskirts of town, towards the dam.

After a quick and eye-opening educational talk, the children were shown how pollution affects our rivers, oceans and animals. 🦅🐟🐘

Then it was time to put that knowledge into action!

Divided into teams, with a volunteer accompanying each group, the children hit the ground running.

There was energy, enthusiasm, teamwork and plenty of healthy competition as bags quickly filled with rubbish. ♻️

And what made the afternoon even more special was the incredible support from our community. ✨💚

A HUGE shout-out to:
• ISU-Rommel for collecting all the bags of rubbish
• Frontiers Restaurant for sponsoring rolls for the children
• Merino Slaghuis and Venter's Game & Biltong Deli for sponsoring the sausages
• Jenni Bamber of Computer Lab for donating delicious chocolate brownies for everyone
• Polyco PRO NPC for providing the wonderful goodie bags for our winning teams.

The competitive spirit was alive and well, with Vuyani presenting goodie bags to the winning teams!🏆💚

What an incredible way to celebrate — educating, empowering, cleaning up and having FUN together! 🎉

A birthday celebration with a difference… because the best celebrations are the ones that leave a positive mark on the community, not on the environment. 🌍

Thank you to every child, volunteer, sponsor and community member who helped make this day such a success.

Together, we really can make a difference! 💚💚

🎉 *Celebrating our birthday with gratitude, giving, and a whole lot of heart!* ❤️

As part of our birthday celebrations, we had the privilege of preparing and serving a special meal to the children at Tinkerbell ECD. It was our way of saying thank you for all the support we have received. 💚💚

Thanks to the generous products and funds we received, we were able to cook up a delicious meal of smash with chicken liver and vegetable stew, served with cocoa milk and a colourful fruit salad. 🍛🧋🍐

But the celebration didn’t stop there! Each child also received a toothbrush together with soap or toothpaste. 🪥🪄

We chatted to them about the importance of taking care of their teeth, and they delighted us by singing a catchy little song about brushing their teeth. It was clear they have been taught well! 😊

What a heartwarming way to celebrate — seeing the next generation being nurtured, cared for, and given a strong educational foundation to prepare them for school. ✨

We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us and made moments like this possible. ♻️💚

But we’re not done… There’s more celebrating, sharing, and giving to come, as we continue marking this special milestone together! 🎂♻️

This is how we clean, sort, and create our statistics every week ♻️♻️

Another month of trading has come to an end. A month of hard work creating a cleaner environment. A month of providing for the unemployed and vulnerable—with dignity.

Every month adds to our growing impact…

From October 2024 to July 2026—23 months of trading—Clean Trade has created meaningful change:

♻️ Almost 137 tonnes of recyclable waste diverted from landfill.

🧴 Of this, more than 54 tonnes are plastic bottles, given a new life. (Did you know each plastic bottle can be recycled and reused up to 20 times?)

And while the environment is being restored, families are putting food on the table 🍞💚

And this is what the shopping experience looks like for those whose hard work gives these statistics meaning and value 💚

In these 23 months, 7 619 traders have cleaned, sorted, and shopped—taking food and clothing home, with dignity.

A safe space has been created for 1,767 people with disabilities to participate, providing for themselves or their families—perhaps for the first time ever.

Of those served, 58% are female and 42% are male, while 99% of our traders are unemployed. These are individuals who now have purpose and a way to bring food home.

Clean Trade is a community. These statistics could never be achieved alone.

Thank you to everyone involved—so many wonderful people and organisations, contributing in so many different ways—all working together to create the change we need 💚

For the environment. For the unemployed. For the destitute. ♻️

🇿🇦Make every day Mandela Day!

✨At Clean Trade we celebrate the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela today and every day that we work together to make a difference in our community and the lives of the marginalized. 🇿🇦♻️

Because "It is in our hands"! 🫶🏻🇿🇦

☀️ 🌾Thank You SAYARI EARTH! 💚♻️

Your donation of gently loved clothing reflects your commitment to the Graaff-Reinet community and to the Clean Trade project – creating a dignified pathway to meeting basic needs while promoting recycling and environmental care!

Thank you for visiting Clean Trade to see who we are and what we do. Your interest and support encourage the Team, and your generous donation helps us continue to stock the Red Container with items that provide choice, dignity and practical everyday essentials.

Together we continue to turn recycling into real impact.

👖♻️👕💚

🏡 THANK YOU to Far Far Away Guest House! 🏡

Your donation towards our volunteer stipends is a meaningful investment in the people who give their time, energy, and hearts to our work.

Thank you for believing in what we do and for standing with us. Thank you for supporting the incredible individuals who show up week after week to make a difference. And thank you for recognising and celebrating the dedication and hard work you have witnessed.

Together, we are creating lasting impact. 💚

🌟 Mandela Day Magic! 🌟

A huge thank you to Union Preparatory School for their generous Mandela Day donation of toiletries!

For their Civics Day, they chose to give back by collecting essential items for our traders. These will be added to our container for our traders to purchase, helping to support dignity!

Thank you for living the spirit of Madiba and making a real difference!

💚 A heartfelt thank you to Freedom Church

We are incredibly grateful to Freedom Church for their generous donation of personal care items for the Red Container.

In addition, through their Winter Warmer Drive, they donated winter clothing to help keep our traders and their families warm during the colder months. These contributions provide practical support while ensuring that people can access essential items with dignity through the Clean Trade system.

Whether it's warm clothing, toiletries, or other everyday necessities, donations like these help us keep the Red Container stocked with items that truly matter.

Thank you for your kindness, generosity and commitment to our community. Your support helps us continue facilitating recycling, dignity and development, one trade at a time. ♻️💚