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A local café is collecting their customers’ used tea bags to support an environmentally-friendly art initiative in South Africa.
Jersey coffee shop Cooper & Co. has started saving customers’ used tea bags which they then pack off to Cape Town to support a community start-up that transforms the bags into products like gift cards and coasters.
Pictured: Cooper & Co. are getting involved in the environmentally-friendly art scheme by collecting used teabags that would otherwise be thrown away.
The café was brought on board by Cathy Morling, who first found out about the South African company ‘Original T Bag Designs’ on a trip to Cape Town with her husband, a Methodist Minister in Jersey.
Cathy told Express that she discovered the company while exploring the city, looking for community projects that tell a story of a modern-day South Africa.
"What are the stories today? We know the stories of Apartheid, we know the past – what’s happening now that might give us a glimpse of peace and a glimpse of grace?” she pondered.
It was with this mindset that Cathy stumbled upon a craft market where ‘Original T Bag Designs’ were exhibiting their up-cycled wares. Cathy says she was “seriously excited by the products” even before she found out that they were made from old tea bags.
Pictured: The products made by the Cape Town-based organisation that transforms used teabags into works of art.
Her interest piqued, Cathy went to visit the Township where the products were made called Imizamo Yethu.
“I have to say, I sat there and I just broke down in tears. It was so beautiful to see what they’ve done,” Cathy said.
Cathy explained that the company was started by a wealthy English lady, Jill Heyes, who moved to Cape Town in the 1990s and began engaging with the local community in the Township. The idea of using teabags arose when Ms Heyes and a friend of hers were discussing the extreme poverty of the Township’s residents over a cup of tea.
"She had the idea of drying these teabags, emptying the teabags, ironing the teabags, painting the teabags and started to involve people in the community. It’s now the most wonderful business – it’s a global business,” Cathy continued.
Pictured: Teabags collected from Cooper's Castle Quay coffee shop which will be emptied, ironed and sent to South Africa.
Speaking of the impact the business has had on the local community, Cathy said: “What they’re doing is transforming lives through the simplest thing… There are stories… of people whose lives have just been turned around. Rhey can invest in their homes [and] their children are getting education."
Upon her return to Jersey, Cathy organised for teabags used in the St. Helier Methodist Centre café to be saved and flat-packed so that they could be sent to the organisation in Cape Town.
It was at this point that Cathy’s friend, Pam Warr from Cooper & Co., heard about the venture which led to the café’s involvement in supporting the eco-friendly art scheme.
Kate Sloan, Marketing Manager at Cooper & Co., said that the café is always enthusiastic about getting involved in projects like this. “We like doing initiatives, we want to help the planet," she commented.
Kate explained that the café is always looking for ways to cut down on their waste, including stopping selling coffee pods and running a scheme to promote the use of re-useable coffee cups.
Cathy added that if anyone wants to get involved in collecting teabags for the scheme, they can contact the St. Helier Methodist Centre Office.
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