STANBIC Bank Zimbabwe has signed a one-year revolving agreement with conservation organisation Ele-Collection to support plastic waste recovery, create employment for underserved women and promote environmental conservation in Victoria Falls.
The partnership seeks to address two interconnected challenges in the resort town: plastic pollution, which threatens wildlife, and limited income-generating opportunities for surrounding communities.
Ele-Collection employs women to collect discarded plastic, providing them with an alternative source of income while helping reduce reliance on subsistence poaching.
The organisation’s chief executive officer, Simon Teede, said Ele-Collection was established following a near-death encounter with an elephant in Victoria Falls.
He said the incident was one of three separate elephant attacks recorded in the town that month, with two people losing their lives in the other incidents.
Teede said that when the elephant involved in his encounter was later put down, a significant quantity of plastic waste was found in its stomach, highlighting the dangers posed by unmanaged waste to wildlife.
He said the experience exposed the link between waste management, wildlife conservation and the livelihoods of surrounding communities.
Plastic ingestion can cause plasticosis, a condition involving inflammation, fibrosis and scarring of the digestive system that can result in death.
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While research has largely focused on birds, emerging studies suggest similar effects may occur in other species that ingest plastic waste.
Teede said it was suspected that plastic ingestion may have contributed to the elephant’s unusual aggression.
“Ele-Collection employs unemployable women who collect all types of plastic, even dirty, contaminated waste which we then process into aggregate for concrete. Independent testing confirmed the product exceeded industry standards, earning certifications from the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, PPC Cement, and DuraCrete for use in commercial concrete applications,” he said.
He said the initiative was providing women with a new source of income.
“Ele-Collection is creating a different option. Our collectors now earn US$8 to US$10 per day recovering plastic from the bush. That's transformational income. That's food security. That's a livelihood that didn't previously exist,” Teede said.
He said Stanbic Bank’s partnership had helped turn plastic waste from an environmental threat into a source of income and livelihood opportunities for women.
Teede said Stanbic Bank had committed to funding the recovery of 36 tonnes of plastic during the year, equivalent to about 3,6 million 500ml plastic bottles.
The partnership has already resulted in the collection of nine tonnes of plastic over the past three months, which Ele-Collection said had helped avoid 26,1 tonnes of emissions, equivalent to planting 435 urban tree seedlings.
Stanbic Bank head of business and commercial banking Patson Mahatchi said the bank was pleased to support an environmentally conscious and sustainability-focused initiative.
“Our institution supports tourism in a big way hence we call Victoria Falls our home. It is thus fitting that this initiative resonates perfectly with our drive to achieve sustainability while serving the communities in which we operate,” Mahatchi said.
He said the initiative was also creating a sustainable alternative source of income that could help reduce reliance on subsistence poaching in the region.
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