Glass Recycling

Our Glass Recycling Journey

There are no formal recycling programmes or regular waste collection services in South Luangwa, or much of Zambia. As a result, much of the waste ends up discarded by the roadside, in pits, or in landfill.

Located on the edge of one of Zambia's most beautiful national parks, we felt it was important to play our part in helping keep the local environment clean.

We started by partnering with local lodges, who regularly drop off bags of glass bottles at our workshop. With a small kiln and basic glass-cutting equipment, we began transforming these discarded bottles into beautiful handcrafted products.

A few years later, after investing in a larger kiln, our recycled glass collection has grown beyond anything we imagined. Demand continues to grow, and keeping up with orders is now one of our biggest challenges!

Meet The Makers

The Glass Recycling Workshop began with Mwamba Kasonde [Pictured right], who had already been working as part of the Luangwa Artisan collective, carving wood products for tourists visiting the Luangwa Valley.

In 2021, he was joined by Niven Chilaizya [Pictured Left], a prior gate man to Tribal Textiles. Niven was already interested in the Glass Workshop, and so it was natural progression for him to join Mwamba running the workshop.

And as of 2026 we have been joined by Chipembele student Josephine, making our glass workshop team a trio!

LEARN ABOUT CHIPEMBELE

Learn about mwamba

Glass, if not recycled, can do far more damage to the environment than plastic. It takes up to 1 million years for glass to break down in a land-fill, compared to 500-1000 years for plastics.

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75-80 bottles are recycled for our large chandeliers.

Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled over and over.

Only about one-third gets recycled.

In landfill, glass takes up to 1 million years to degrade.

Can we ship our chandeliers?

Yes... and we've got the proof!

Back in 2024, customers Geert and Dianne spotted one of our recycled glass chandeliers in our South Luangwa shop and decided it had to come all the way home to the Netherlands!

Fast forward a few weeks, and here it is in its forever home... and we think it looks absolutely stunning!

The Glass Recycling Project

The Glass Recycling Project! An all-new Tribal Textiles project that involves the recycling of glass from local lodges at the Tribal Textiles workshop to create beautiful handmade products.

We have had a huuuuuge learning curve when it comes to glass recycling, as unfortunately there is not a lot of information out there on it. Especially when using back to basics technqiues.

We are super fortunate to have had a kick start from with our first small kiln through PEP Zambia and then a larger new kiln in 2023 via Planetera. We are super greatful for all of the support we have had so far to kick start this project.

All of our glass products use several different stages and techniques to get to the final product, we are super proud of pushing through new innovative ideas.