Social Impacts

Offering workplace training and skills development for disabled people, primarily single mothers, who were once unemployed. These programmes increase their self-esteem and enable them to support their dependents.

employees are put through an Adult and Education Training (AET) programme, where they acquire knowledge and skills which enable them to be employed in better positions in the future.
Providing recycled plastic to government’s low-cost housing initiative.

There is an extremely high level of functional illiteracy amongst disabled adults. greenABLE incubates Beneficiaries whilst they attend school and collaborates with a skills development training provider to ensure quality of learning and success for all our Beneficiaries. Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) is the foundation towards lifelong learning and development, comprising of knowledge, skills and attitudes required for social, economic and political participation and transformation. ABET provides access to nationally recognised certificates. All training is audited by independent Assessors to ensure it is aligned and of a high standard.


Environmental Impacts

Recycling 305,690 printer cartridges per year equates to approximately 220 tonnes of waste being diverted from landfills.

We divert 10 to 12 tonnes of plastic and 8 to 10 tonnes of metal from going to our landfill sites. The recycling project currently diverts 33 000 printer cartridges from landfill sites per month. This plastic is sold and recycled to make roof tiles for South African low cost housing initiatives and provides greenABLE with a reliable monthly income.


Economic Impacts

Creation of employment opportunities for greenAGENTS.

Lifting beneficiaries out of unemployment by offering them education and work-experience programmes.
Income generated from recycling covers the operational costs of running the enterprise.

99% Unemployment in the disabled sector. All of our Beneficiaries have been awarded a funded Learnership, as well as receiving an income from our Sponsors. This income does not only benefit themselves but enables them to support their families. greenABLE has an Agent model which empowers people with physical disabilities to start up a cartridge collection business from their home. The greenABLE Agent project identifies suitable (usually homebound as a result of their mobility impairment) candidates with an entrepreneurial flair, encouraging them to become financially independent.

greenABLE is a registered non-profit company which incubates, educates and employs previously unemployed black individuals with disabilities. It is the only organization within Africa to have pioneered and developed a solution for the recycling of printer cartridges, through which we significantly contribute towards the green economy goals. The objective is to change the lives of people with disabilities by closing the ‘skills gap’ through an Adult Education & Training Learnership, whilst also facilitating workplace experience. The organization further facilitates post- employment opportunities within and outside of the sector for its beneficiaries, who because of their lack of educational qualification, would not be able to access the mainstream economy.