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Building a cleaner future, one bottle at a time

10 June 2025 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

According to Dr Anita Venter, eco-bricks help prevent further environmental degradation, a theme often highlighted by World Environment Day.

Students filling plastic bottles with tightly packed wrappers, chips packets, and cling wrap until they are sturdy may not look like revolutionaries, but that is exactly what they are. This Eco-Bricks initiative is a grassroots effort that transforms plastic waste into construction material, sparking environmental change from the ground up. From there, the possibilities multiply – from benches to buildings, and from awareness to action.

It is not just about just stuffing bottles; it is about shifting mindsets.

Dr Anita Venter, Lecturer in the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State (UFS), believes eco-bricks directly address the urgent need for solutions to plastic pollution. “By taking plastic out of the waste stream and giving it a new, useful life, we're actively participating in ecosystem restoration and preventing further environmental degradation, a theme often highlighted by World Environment Day.”

However, the Eco-Bricks project is doing more than managing waste. “Beyond this practical application, it serves as a powerful community development tool, empowering individuals to take control of waste management and fostering a vital environmental consciousness.”

And while we can dream of a plastic-free world, Dr Venter is grounded in today’s realities. “So, my approach is that I'd rather have plastic contained safely within a bottle – repurposed in a regenerative way – than seeing it break down into nano-plastics, poisoning our earth. This project is about finding practical solutions within our current reality.”

A no-cost solution

Dr Venter does not lead from a podium; she is mentoring from the sidelines. “I'm primarily involved in mentoring our student champions. They are the real drivers, facilitating the eco-brick training peer-to-peer. It's about empowering them to spread the knowledge and skills, rather than me being the sole instructor. It’s a beautiful ripple effect.”

And ripple it does. “These initiatives continue in their communities, and that truly warms my heart,” she says. The students are taking the lessons home, creating a chain reaction of action and awareness. “It’s not just about building bricks; it’s about inspiring continued action.”

The concept’s biggest success story? Thousands of eco-bricks being used by the Natural Building Collective in the Western Cape for formalised buildings. Proof that what was started by students can reshape entire landscapes.

“I see eco-bricks as an incredible community development tool. What’s beautiful about it is that it’s a no-cost activity. Anyone who wants to start a community development initiative can pick it up, and they immediately reap the dual benefits of cleaning their environment and taking control of their own waste management. It’s very empowering on a grassroots level.”

Regeneration starts here

Dr Venter, who has been part of the initiative since 2013, sees it as integral to her broader environmental work as climate activist focusing on research related to housing, informal settlement upgrading, culture, socio-ecological development, regenerative design, and art. She is quick to connect plastic pollution to the deeper ecological crisis we face. “Plastic is a monumental environmental problem, rapidly leading to biodiversity collapse, which I honestly believe is a far more pressing issue than even the climate crisis itself. It’s stark – babies are now born with plastic in their tiny bodies, and these microplastics are found in every human organ. It’s a pervasive crisis.”

With students and community leaders now steering the project, she is hopeful about the future: “The beauty of something so accessible and practical is that it doesn’t need top-down direction; it flourishes from the ground up as people recognise its value and adopt it.”

Dr Venter’s commitment to making waste meaningful goes well beyond the Eco-Bricks initiative. In the project What Remains Through Time, Slowness and Stillness, waste is transformed into meaningful art, and communities step into the role of co-creators.

Using post-natural building techniques, the project incorporates both waste and natural materials, marrying ecological restoration with social transformation. Sites such as the Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein National Hospital, and Sekoele Holistic Living Arts Centre serve as hubs where participants can engage hands-on, learning new skills while strengthening their communities.

According to Dr Venter, the main activities at Oliewenhuis are from June to September this year. Here, the focus is on community collaboration and regenerative art that goes far beyond constructing physical spaces. “We’re aiming to break down social barriers and make art truly accessible and inclusive within public spaces. It’s as much about building community as it is about building structures,” she says.

So, what can you do?

Start where you are. Join an eco-brick or art-for-regeneration initiative. “Go beyond sustainability! We need to regenerate, to ‘renew, restore, revitalise’,” says Dr Venter. Attend a training event. Share what you learn. “That’s how we create real, lasting change – through shared knowledge and empowered action.”

News Archive

MBA Programme - Question And Answer Sheet - 27 May 2004

2004-05-27

1. WHAT MUST THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE (UFS) DO TO GET FULL ACCREDITATION FOR THE MBA PROGRAMMES?

According to the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) evaluation, the three MBA programmes of the UFS clearly and significantly contribute to students’ knowledge and skills, are relevant for the workplace, are appropriately resourced and have an appropriate internal and external programme environment. These programmes are the MBA General, the MBA in Health Care Management and the MBA in Entrepreneurship.

What the Council on Higher Education did find, was a few technical and administrative issues that need to be addressed.

This is why the three MBA programmes of the UFS received conditional accreditation – which in itself is a major achievement for the UFS’s School of Management, which was only four years old at the time of the evaluation.

The following breakdown gives one a sense of the mostly administrative nature of the conditions that have to be met before full accreditation is granted by the CHE:

a. A formal forum of stakeholders: The UFS is required to establish a more structured, inclusive process of review of its MBA programmes. This is an administrative formality already in process.

b. A work allocation model: According to the CHE this is required to regulate the workload of the teaching staff, particularly as student numbers grow, rather than via standard management processes as currently done.

c. Contractual agreements with part-time staff: The UFS is required to enter into formal agreements with part-time and contractual staff as all agreements are currently done on an informal and claim-basis. This is an administrative formality already in process.

d. A formal curriculum committee: According to the CHE, the School of Management had realised the need for a structure – other than the current Faculty Board - where all MBA lecturers can deliberate on the MBA programmes, and serve as a channel for faculty input, consultation and decision-making.

e. A system of external moderators: This need was already identified by the UFS and the system is to be implemented as early as July 2004.

f. A compulsory research component: The UFS is required to introduce a research component which will include the development of research skills for the business environment. The UFS management identified this need and has approved such a component - it is to take effect from January 2005. This is an insufficient element lacking in virtually all MBA programmes in South Africa.

g. Support programmes for learners having problems with numeracy: The UFS identified this as a need for academic support among some learners and has already developed such a programme which will be implemented from January 2005.

The majority of these conditions have been satisfied already and few remaining steps will take effect soon. It is for this reason that the UFS is confident that its three MBA programmes will soon receive full accreditation.

2. WHAT ACCREDITATION DOES THE UFS HAVE FOR ITS MBA PROGRAMME?

The UFS’s School of Management received conditional accreditation for its three MBA programmes.

Two levels of accreditation are awarded to tertiary institutions for their MBA programmes, namely full accreditation and conditional accreditation. When a programme does not comply with the minimum requirements regarding a small number of criteria, conditional accreditation is given. This can be rectified during the short or medium term.

3. IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE ACADEMIC CORE OF THE UFS’s MBA PROGRAMMES?

No. The UFS is proud of its three MBA programmes’ reputation in the market and the positive feedback it receives from graduandi and their employers.

The MBA programmes of the UFS meet most of the minimum requirements of the evaluation process.

In particular, the key element of ‘teaching and learning’, which relates to the curriculum and content of the MBA programmes, is beyond question. In other words, the core of what is being taught in our MBA programmes is sound.

4. IS THE UFS’s MBA A WORTHWHILE QUALIFICATION?

Yes. Earlier this year, the School of Management – young as it is - was rated by employers as the best smaller business school in South Africa. This was based on a survey conducted by the Professional Management Review and reported in the Sunday Times Business Times, of 25 January 2004.

The UFS is committed to maintaining these high standards of quality, not only through compliance with the requirements of the CHE, but also through implementing its own quality assurance measures.

Another way in which we benchmark the quality of our MBA programmes is through the partnerships we have formed with institutions such as the DePaul University in Chicago and Kansas State University, both in the US, as well as the Robert Schuman University in France.

For this reason the UFS appreciates and supports the work of the CHE and welcomes its specific findings regarding the three MBA programmes.

It is understandable that the MBA review has caused some nervousness – not least among current MBA students throughout the country.

However, one principle that the UFS management is committed to is this: preparing all our students for a world of challenge and change. Without any doubt the MBA programme of the UFS is a solid preparation.

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