Gallery
Experiment overview
A documentation and strategic support initiative for the Orange Farm project in Johannesburg, which converted electronic waste into jewelry to fund a children’s technology center.
The project represented a circular economy approach that simultaneously addressed e-waste challenges, created economic opportunities, and developed technological literacy among local youth.
Main objectives
My support for this community-driven innovation was documenting their processes of making: from discarded electronics to marketable jewelry, providing strategic guidance to maximize both environmental and social impact, and creating frameworks for regenerative operations that could potentially be replicated in other communities facing similar e-waste challenges.
Achieved results
Before pandemic interruption, the initiative successfully established documentation of the upcycling methodology that transformed computer components into aesthetic jewelry pieces.
The strategic support helped position the project for potential scaling. The early-stage work demonstrated proof of concept for the circular model that connected waste reduction, economic opportunity, and educational access through a single integrated approach.
Main reflection
This experience revealed the power of community-driven innovation to address multiple challenges simultaneously through creative repurposing.
The project demonstrated that e-waste - typically seen as an environmental liability - could become a resource for both economic development and educational opportunity when approached with creativity.
Though COVID-19 forced the initiative into hibernation just as it was gaining momentum, the concept itself proved the potential for circular thinking to transform linear problems.
The project’s approach to giving electronic components a “second life” paralleled its goal of creating second chances for children through technology education - showing how material and social regeneration can be interconnected.
This experiment confirmed that regenerative solutions often emerge from communities directly affected by challenges rather than being imposed from outside, suggesting that supporting local innovation may be more effective than importing predetermined solutions.