OUR STORY
Unwrapping the Heart Behind the Brand
Every time you buy Supa Mama®’s eco-friendly drawstring refuse bags, you are directly contributing to keeping a woman recycler employed. You’re also helping her feed her family and uplift her community. You are investing in her dignity.
Plus, even if you don’t recycle yourself, you are supporting the green economy. Every cent you spend on Supa Mama® products helps divert plastic waste away from landfills to be recycled into sustainable household products.
This “green circle of love” empowers hundreds of women recyclers and places much-needed cash in their pockets. And these amazing Supa Mama® “Mamas” are thriving as emerging waste-preneurs who take the utmost pride in their work.
Our Mamas thank you – yes, YOU! – for being an agent of social change by buying smart.
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How your rands do good
We donate a portion of the retail price from the sale of every Supa Mama® product towards our Women in Recycling initiative. This helps our Mamas earn a sustainable and dignified income while contributing to a greener future for all.
That’s how your rands lend a helping hand!
How it works
GREEN CIRCLE
OF LOVE
Meet Mama Zulu:
GREEN CIRCLE
OF LOVE
Our Mama's are women recyclers who collect, sort, and store plastic waste—turning what others throw away into opportunity.
Recycled through the EREMA machine, this plastic waste gets a second life as Supa Mama® drawstring refuse bags.
Less waste, no new plastic. Supa Mama® transforms recycled plastic into strong, reliable refuse bags—reducing the need for new plastic.
Your choice matters. Every time YOU buy a Supa Mama® refuse bag, you support women recyclers and help close the loop in our green circle of love.
Supa Mama ® is committed to socio-economic upliftment
Supa Mama ® makes it better – in the kitchen, in the environment, in the community, in every
family’s (and every Mama’s) home. At the heart of the Supa Mama ® brand lies a commitment to affordable quality that goeshand in hand with a passion for sustainability and empowerment. We are deeply rooted in our communities and strongly believe in the transformative power of South Africa’s women– as homemakers, nurturers, pillars of the community, the rocks on which our nation is built.
We also believe in unearthing their entrepreneurial spirit. That’s why Supa Mama ® launched the Women in Recycling initiative – to create job opportunities for women, especially those who are unemployed, marginalised or facing tough times.
When you empower a woman, you empower a nation!
Supa Mama ® is committed to socio-economic upliftment
Supa Mama ® makes it better – in the kitchen, in the environment, in the community, in every
family’s (and every Mama’s) home. At the heart of the Supa Mama ® brand lies a commitment to affordable quality that goeshand in hand with a passion for sustainability and empowerment. We are deeply rooted in our communities and strongly believe in the transformative power of South Africa’s women– as homemakers, nurturers, pillars of the community, the rocks on which our nation is built.
We also believe in unearthing their entrepreneurial spirit. That’s why Supa Mama ® launched the Women in Recycling initiative – to create job opportunities for women, especially those who are unemployed, marginalised or facing tough times.
When you empower a woman, you empower a nation!
Why a Recycling Initiative?
In South Africa only 10% of waste is being recycled or recovered every year – a shockingly low statistic. This means the rest goes to landfills or is dumped illegally. It’s clear: we urgently need to lessen the risk to the environment and to our people, who have the right to live in clean, safe, unpolluted neighbourhoods. The economic opportunities in the green economy are plain to see – it just takes will and commitment.
In KwaZulu-Natal province, unemployment is at sky-high levels. Women- headed households bear the brunt, with few opportunities for escaping the cycle of poverty. Enter Supa Mama’s recycling initiative. This programme is not about handouts. Rather, it is a training and market access vehicle that aims to ignite an entrepreneurial flame in our sisters, mothers, grannies and aunts. It gives them the tools to empower themselves through decent, green jobs.
And it’s working like a dream. To date, this recycling initiative has upskilled hundreds of women to work in the plastic waste recycling economy, many of whom now own and run their own successful micro-businesses. This puts food on their tables, helps them build their own houses, and funds their children’s school and university fees. More than that, it gives our beloved Mamas the priceless gift of self-sufficiency.
What sets Supa Mama ’s recycling initiative apart?
It’s done with heart.
Supa Mama ’s founders are passionate about investing in the communities in which we work. This comes from a genuine desire to see communities prosper and thrive.
1
It’s done with dignity.
Supa Mama ® trains the Mamas (500-plus to date) to hygienically collect, sort and grade clean, uncontaminated plastic waste. Supa Mama ® buys the waste material from the Mamas, and does the “heavy lifting” – it is then recycled into raw material, which is used to manufacture sturdy refuse bags.
2
It’s done in a structured and formalised way.
The Mamas are not informal “waste pickers” – they have gained the know-how to run their own recycling micro-businesses, employ others, work smart and maximise their income.
3
It’s done to empower others.
Supa Mama ® ’s social entrepreneurship ethos is anchored in ubuntu (“I am because we are”), paying it forward and supporting small businesses. As South Africans, we are all interconnected!
4
It’s done through partnerships.
It takes a village to raise a child and build a nation. Similarly, it takes a network of committed people – recycling partners, retailers, NGOs and the Mamas – working together to make the Supa Mama recycling initiative succeed.
Our customers are vital partners in realising this vision.
5
Thank you for buying a Supa Mama product; Your Rands do Good.
How can each of us make the ‘green circle of love’ bigger?
• Be an agent of positive change in your community, through initiatives like street, river and park clean-ups
• Support sustainable, community-focused local brands such as Supa Mama®
• Realise that your small individual actions (such as recycling your plastic waste) can collectively make a big impact
How can each of us make the ‘green circle of love’ bigger?
• Be an agent of positive change in your community, through initiatives like street, river and park clean-ups
• Support sustainable, community-focused local brands such as Supa Mama®
• Realise that your small individual actions (such as recycling your plastic waste) can collectively make a big impact