Chris Theko
Have you ever thought of a time when the many greeting cards you receive from friends and family for your birthday, Christmas, anniversary an achievement, graduation et al, could be re-used for some other worthwhile purpose like producing food when they had served their initial purpose? Sounds far-fetched right? Well not anymore, not since the birth of Linaleli Greeting Cards.
Linaleli Greeting Cards a locally-based and youth-run company has unearthed the secret of recycling paper not only for the sake of reducing environmental waste or reusing any waste paper for its initial original purpose, but for the sake of producing plants.
The business is about recycled paper that not only grows into beautiful flowers, herbs and vegetables, but also empowers communities while reducing your organization’s carbon footprint.
The founder of Linaleli Greeting Cards Lerato Moteane (23) is a Sales and Marketing graduate from Stadio Faculty of Arts but has always had a passion for sustainable supply chain management and that is where she got the idea from.
“Our business focuses on ecofriendly gifting and marketing solutions. So as far as the ecofriendly part we have plantable greeting cards, flyers, programs and anything that can be done with paper we can do it with plantable paper.
“We have over 15 seeds to choose from, I think there are about 20 but since some are barely in stock I’ll say 15. We have flowers, vegetables and herbs,†she said.
She explained that the business is mainly aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change while educating the people about the importance of sustainability, recycling and responsible consumption.
“Our aim is just to mitigate climate change by offering as many recycled options as possible and offering options that once you dispose-off they are a hundred percent biodegradable,†she explained.
Not only does the paper reduce the organization’s carbon footprint, it handles brand growth while communicating the organization’s efforts towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
“Our paper is manufactured from hundred percent recycled paper materials such as copy paper, cardboard and newspapers. It is carefully recycled and embedded with seeds from our wide variety of seed options ranging from flowers, herbs and vegetables.
“Since our paper is seeded, this means that it is hundred percent biodegradable, meaning zero waste and more importantly, zero paper pollution to our beautiful streets and subsequently ending up in landfills,†she added.
She said that the paper has been tried and tested thousands of times to ensure that people achieve the best plant results and the guarantee of putting a smile on the client’s face.
Paper is one of the most used products globally; which means that large volumes of used paper end up in landfills, skipping the recycle bin.
In order to be seen as sustainable and to explore the market share of eco-conscious consumers, a lot of countries opt for entirely recycled products and plantable paper solutions that won’t end up in landfills is another one of them.
Some of Linaleli Greeting cards are written in Sesotho to accommodate and be inclusive to other people who cannot read or understand English
“When you go to a lot of shops that sell cards, you will recognize that a lot of them are written in English with a lot of white people so we realized that gap and thought it has to be bridged since we are in Lesotho or Southern Africa where we are predominantly black and speak African languages,†she said proudly.