Just because we build 'green products' and our manufacturing process leaves a smaller carbon footprint than a company that builds tractors, does this not relieve us from our environmental responsibilities.
Many people do not understand why one should recycle, because one does not see any difference if one does or not, not realising that the effect [reduced rate of destruction] of what we do today is only seen in 10 or 20 years from now.
We are constantly making our employees aware of this importance, in the hope that they will take this home, and not only exercise recycling at their workplace because it is compulsory.
Besides for the different types of metals, we also recycle plastics [PMMA, PVC, PC, ABS, PETG, LDPE and HDPE], carton, paper and glass. All our collected recyclables [besides metals] we give to our local 'self employed' recycle material collectors. This is one of the ways that we contribute to local economic development.
Another way we contribute to local economic development is thru skills development. Because our skill set is so versatile, we can expose individuals to basically every aspect of the manufacturing industry. This strategy is based on widening the horizon, exposing unskilled and unmotivated labour to the amazing live of creating things. We work closely together with 'Dream Worker' in Atlantis. They have a database of over 2000 job seekers [list is growing continuously], and here we look for unskilled labour that dreams of being an engineer. We expose them to all the fields of the engineering trade for the duration of a year. Afterwards they get an certificate listing their achievements and then hopefully they will go study to become qualified with a solid practical backbone and knowing what they are in for before they start.
We call on other companies that employ labour brokers to please have a look at what 'Dream Worker' offers. They are an NGO, and they are purely there as a bridge between the unemployed and the employer. Although it might be more hassle than dealing with labour brokers, one is helping local economic development, one can employ more people, and one is increasing overall moral in the work place.