[dc]Bread bags have a world of good use – learners turn them into makeshift lunch boxes, dog owners use them for canine undesirables – and now South Africans are being encouraged to save and return them to benefit the country’s youngest children.[/dc]

The Siyasizana Daycare Project rewards crèche and daycare leaders, spaza shop owners and other community members who keep their empty bread bags out of the bin.

Sasko brand manager Lungelwa Mnyamana explained how the recycling programme works and how the bread giant launched its campaign in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain. The bags gathered can be redeemed for basic amenities for daycare centres and crèches, such as backpacks, basins, carpets, fridges and stoves, said Mnyamana, depending on the amount of bags collected in the year to come.

The project was piloted in the Johannesburg township, Thembisa, before coming to Cape Town.

The public response in Gauteng “exceeded” the company’s expectations, said Mnyamana. As many as 364 daycares collected about 315,582 bread bags in just six months. The baker awarded 1,385 prizes to the childcare facilities.

Prizes in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain will be awarded in early 2017.