SOCIAL IMPACT
Growbag Upcycled Social Impact – Helping Communities Grow
Growbag Social Impact is about more than reducing waste – it’s about creating real change in communities. At Growbag Upcycled, we believe sustainability and social responsibility go hand in hand. That’s why every Growbag you buy helps support Soil For Life, a Cape Town–based non-profit that empowers families in under-resourced areas to grow their own food, improve resilience, and live healthier lives.
WHY GROWBAG UPCYCLED SUPPORTS SOIL FOR LIFE
Our partnership with Soil For Life is at the core of Growbag Social Impact. This inspiring organisation has been working in Cape Town for over a decade, teaching families how to grow organic food using water-wise, eco-friendly, and low-cost methods. Even in small spaces, they show people how to grow nutritious food, improve their diets, and build stronger communities.
By donating upcycled planter bags to families in the Soil For Life “Grow to Life” programme, Growbag ensures participants have the durable, practical tools they need to put their new gardening skills into action.
HOW UPCYCLED PLANTER BAGS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Each Growbag is made from recycled billboard vinyl that would otherwise go to waste. With Growbag Upcycled Social Impact, these durable planters are repurposed to help families start home gardens, feed their families, and even generate income from the produce they grow.
Families gain access to fresh, healthy food.
Waste materials are diverted from landfills.
Communities become more resilient and self-sufficient.
As Jo Fuller, Acting Director of Soil For Life (2013), explains:
“One of the main principles we teach in communities is recycling and the re-use of waste materials for vegetable gardens. Growbag has taken this idea to the next level by combining it with contemporary design.”
TOGETHER, WE GROW
When you choose Growbag Upcycled, you’re not only supporting local jobs and reducing waste — you’re also part of Growbag Upcycled Social Impact. Every product tells a story of transformation: from discarded material to functional design, from empty spaces to thriving gardens, from waste to growth.
Join us in growing a cleaner, greener, and more connected future.
BEAUTIFUL NEWS FEATURE
Beautiful News did a story on our project in 2019.. Such a privilege to be selected for this feature!
Life in the city is like living in an advertisement. Giant billboards line congested highways, fill shopping malls, and cover apartment block windows. Made from metres of synthetic material, they turn to waste once the ad is over. When Manuela Wall looks up at these commercial vinyls, she doesn’t see the product they’re selling. Instead, she recognises an opportunity to turn a concrete jungle into an urban oasis.
Wall left her home in Germany to pursue her passion for gardening. She had little space and barely any sun to satisfy her green fingers. On arrival in Cape Town, Wall discovered Soil For Life – an organisation that teaches communities to grow their own food. She saw how those involved were struggling to fulfill their gardening needs, resorting to shoes and plastic bags to plant in. When Wall realised there was a gap in the process of removing and recycling billboards, she set out to convert them into pots and planters. “I came up with the idea of creating life out of material that is dead,” she says.
For her initiative, GROWbag, Wall chooses fabrics based on colour combinations. She cuts away references to brands and restitches the billboard vinyl. The finished product goes to gardening communities, offering an attractive incentive to grow food. Sometimes, the opportunity to protect the environment is right in front of us – plastered on the side of a building.
*Copy, Photo & Video by @BeautifulNewsSA