Manufacturing is one of the largest and most influential sectors of the country’s economy. It also accounts for a similarly large piece of the South Africa’s workforce and thereby helping in supporting the national economy, as well as individuals and families. Of even greater importance, manufacturing has the highest multiplier effect of any other major sector. Clearly, manufacturing is having a big impact on jobs, livelihoods and the economy. That’s something to be proud of. It is precisely for this reason that the Company has decided to take its recycling product stream to the next level of manufacturing intermediary and final products from the recycled material which are currently in the form of furniture from used wooden pallets; and a variety of products from used tyres.
“You dream about it ………. We produce it”
Pallet manufacturers and pallet companies are faced with significant challenges by paying more money in the form of landfill costs for the disposal of pallets. Many of our pallet customers are continually seeking better and smarter ways to recycle pallets because the cost of dumping and disposing of pallet scrap has increased more than double over the years.
For companies searching for on- or off-site pallet disposal solutions, Thinavhuuo stands ready to assist in addressing their specific operational challenges with the resultant:
• Elimination of high tipping & landfill spend
• Improve material flow and increase floor space
• Adoption of "Zero-Waste" environmental initiatives
• Conversion of wood pallets into highly desirable by-products
• Reliable and robust solutions built specifically for pallet recycling
Our pallet recycling experts can demonstrate how to increase profitability by recycling unwanted pallets and therefore maximizing the total value within every pallet core. By using Thinavhuuo’s low RPM industrial wood chipper, pallet companies can eliminate the pains associated with expensive scrap disposal by converting unwanted expenses into sought-after by-products like animal bedding, composting, or filler for composite materials. The Company always strives to put a cost effective total pallet solution system in place, this normally entails a sorting and collection process. These processes are tailor-made for client’s specific requirements.
The business of making wooden furniture is a natural flow from the mountains of used pallets at some of the landfill sites of the Company’s clients. The primary focus of Thinavhuuo in this instance is the manufacturing of custom designed furniture and other wooden items to client specification and requirement.
The Company has several strategic partnerships with other companies and institutions in this service category. Important of these are the numerous small scale furniture manufacturers from throughout the rural villages and townships of Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality. The strategic value and importance of the Company’s relationship with these emergent businesses is twofold.
• Firstly, the Company acts as a welcome supplier of the raw material in the form of used wooden pallets to these entities
• Of even greater importance, these small scale furniture manufacturers highly appreciate the sales and marketing role which the Company is providing to them. This is by way of the show display of their manufactured products at the Company premises alongside the busy R71 Phalaborwa – Gravelotte main road. Some of them have since decided to rather operate at the designated site at the Company premises for cost saving and operational efficiency purposes
Sample of some of the wooden products made from used pallets
The second category of Strategic Partners is the established institutions. At the operational level, the Company has an arrangement with the Palabora Foundation who act as the providers of the required technical assistance regarding wooden furniture manufacturing. Palabora Foundation is a non-profit organisation, an independent educational trust and a National Skills Fund accredited provider.
The Foundation has taken the term ‘corporate social investment’ and given it shape and meaning through its practical interventions to better people’s lives. It does this through a set of core programmes; one of which is the carpentry training course which it offers to students from throughout Mopani District in Limpopo Province, South Africa. As is the case with training programmes of this nature which require students to gain hands-on practical experience after completion of the studies, the Foundation welcomed the Company’s proposition to enlist some of their qualified students for the Company’s on-site furniture manufacturing.
The Company is in a pole position with regard to the supply of the used wooden pallets. Outside of the Municipality through its landfill and the two mining companies of Foskor and Bosveld, Palabora Mining Copper is by far the main source of supply. The pallets are sorted at the mine landfill and transported to the Company premises. The damaged pallets are de-nailed onsite at the landfill and disposed through the wood chipper for composting