One Man’s Garbage is Another Man’s Treasure

Perhaps one of the most heartwarming, and yet, heart breaking aid missions that Bestnet Europe Ltd. has ever had the opportunity to be associated with, concerns the story of a young Danish woman named Signe Møller, and her efforts to make the world a better place for the children of Africa.

Dedicated to making a difference in the world, 100% to the Children provides continuous, long-lasting support for local projects with the potential to become self-sustainable in the Mombassa Municipality of Kenya. According to Møller , “We want to help the most children, in the best way, for the longest time through facilitation of quality projects, across borders, in a non-bureaucratic, transparent and sustained manner.”  

http://www.100percent2thechildren.org/subpages/kibarani.asp   “Three thousand people are living on the brink – at and around stinking mountains of garbage. On the brink of life and human dignity. They are the inhabitants of Kibarani on the outskirts of Mombasa. Kibarani’s garbage dump is the final destination for most of the city’s garbage. Even though the garbage dump has no official sorting system, the garbage is still sorted piece by piece. Every time a garbage truck delivers a load, the residents congregate at the garbage dump to look for food to eat, clothes to wear or plastic and metal to sell. This is their only means of survival. And they struggle for food – every day people race to be the first to reach the new piles to see who will find the best food or the most plastic and metal. About three hundred people live at the garbage dump itself in small lean-tos made of plastic and cardboard found in the garbage. The rest live across the road but they all share the same fate: being dependent on the garbage dump to survive. Mothers with infants on their backs go through pile after pile of garbage, while the older children help them. The children live in the garbage, play in the garbage, eat the garbage and fall ill from the garbage.”

100% to the children has a vivid description of school’s locale listed on its website at

Everything from establishing a PO Box to purchasing land is virtually impossible for them without being a registered Kenyan NGO. In September 2009, immediately after the news that the land had been sold, 100% to the Children- Africa began the formal registration process to be recognized as an independent NGO with the Kenya NGO Co-ordination Board.  Signe Møller and her staff at 100% to the Children hope that the registration process will be completed in time to help the Kimbari villagers. 100% to the children has attempted to find reasonable solutions to help resolve the unknown future of the Kimbari residents.  Their results have been hindered by the fact that 100% to the Children is a Danish NGO and not an NGO registered in Kenya.  

In the late summer of 2009, the Kimbari residents received devastating news.  The village and garbage dump have been sold out from beneath them.  A businessman who purchased the land has decided to clear out the dump, and the village, and to destroy the Kimbari Nursery School, and to build an industrial plant in its place. By the Fall of 2010, the area residents will be required to leave this area and these destitute families will lose their meager homes, their community and the only school their children have ever known.

It is a pure testament to their desire to improve their children’s lives that the parents living in and around the garbage dump started the Kimbari Nursery School of over 150 students on their own.  Fortunately for the children, 100% to the Children took over the school’s operating costs in June 2008, and has been providing support in the form of nutrition, health and education. “100% to the Children makes sure that all of the children receive two healthy meals a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  100% to the Children has a health team who visit the school every other week. At present, the team is made up of a voluntary Danish medical student and a Kenyan clinical officer (a cross between a doctor and a nurse). Twice a month, they visit the school to offer treatment to all the children in the area. The treatments have been a huge success and the team often treats up to thirty children a day. The children are afflicted with a wide range of ailments ranging from infections, open sores, and malaria to malnutrition and diarrhoea – illnesses which unfortunately were often fatal before we started up the health programme.”

In September 2009, Bestnet Europe donated 170 Netprotect long lasting insecticidal mosquito nets to 100% to the Children for distribution to 150 children at the Kimbari Nursery School located on the outskirts of a garbage dump in Kimbari, Mombassa, Kenya. 

Signe Møller founded the Danish NGO  100% to the Children, in 2008, with her own life savings.  For the last 2 years, Signe and  the organization have been assisting a community of about three thousand individuals living under extreme adverse conditions in the village of Kimbari, Mombassa, Kenya.

Donation by Bestnet Europe Ltd. mentioned in Danish newspaper.

Green Manufacturing

At Bestnet Europe Ltd., green thinking is inherent to our product stewardship and is reflected in all activities related to the life cycle of our products; from their design and manufacture, to their end use management. Our goal is to constantly develop new ways to reduce our impact on the environment. 

We begin by carefully choosing our raw materials. Our Netprotect^® mosquito nets are made from polyethylene. Polyethylene mosquito nets have an average lifespan of five years; while polyester nets only have an average lifespan of 2 to 3 years. Longer lifespan means less frequent replacement of nets and ultimately results in less waste and less use of natural resources.

Our manufacturing processes have been designed to be as green as possible.  The coloring process we use is non-polluting and stable.  We also reduce waste by carefully planning the cutting and sewing of our netting fabric into Netprotect^® mosquito nets. Any and all materials that can be recycled from the manufacturing process are considered valuable resources that serve to reduce our impact on the environment.

We also support efforts to create an option for safe and proper disposal of the polyethylene nets after they have reached the end of their lifespan as a bed net. Specifically we support a project that aims to create items for sanitation out of recycled plastics from bags, plastic bottles and mosquito nets, to the benefit of local economies and the environment.

Plastic bags are a significant and often unnecessary source of waste from net distribution campaigns. Large volumes of plastic bags may be seen left scattered around villages and distribution sites, especially during large distribution campaigns.  We are pleased to announce an alternative packaging method.  Each individual Netprotect® mosquito net is folded around a page of instructions for use, and then secured with a strap, eliminating the need for a bag.  The straps can even be customized with the customer’s logo at no extra cost.  The strapped nets are compiled into bales for safe and easy shipment.

Since this method of bulk packing decreases volume and weight per individual bale, and reduces the use of energy in transporting Netprotect^®, customers can save approx 3% on transportation costs if they choose this method of packaging.

Bestnet has invested in large wind turbines as a power source at one of our manufacturing facilities. It is our intention to utilize this powerful renewable energy resource whenever and wherever possible and plan to extend the practice to all of our manufacturing sites

Bestnet encourages all international travelers using Netprotect^® to leave their mosquito nets behind for use by others in the country that they are visiting. Not only will the mosquito nets serve to protect other individuals, but passing the long lasting insecticidal net on to another user, eliminates the possibility that the net will be needlessly discarded once the original owner has finished using it.

We are committed as a company to identifying new and exciting methods and materials in our quest to reduce our environmental foot print. Our employees are constantly searching for and implementing new ideas to help us meet our goal. 

Please let us know if you have any ideas on ways that we can reduce our impact on the environment by contacting us at info@bestneteurope.com.

Bestnet's Annual Photo Contest

Do you have photos of bednet distribution campaigns? Pictures of bednets in use? How about photos of areas where bednets are desperately needed?  Each year Bestnet Europe Ltd. organizes a photography competition with a prize going to the individual or organization that submits the winning photograph.

2010 Contest Theme: MALARIA AND LONG LASTING MOSQUITO BEDNETS

1st Place Prize Awarded

Choose between the following two options:

Five hundred  (500) Netprotect^® long lasting mosquito bed nets will be donated in the winner’s name to a humanitarian aid organization chosen by Bestnet Europe Ltd and a Donation Certificate  will be issued in the name of the winner.  And, of course, all transportation costs and local duty and taxes will be paid by Bestnet Europe Ltd.  - OR

Acceptable Subjects for Submitted Photographs
Bestnet is particularly interested in photos that feature scenes of homes or villages in low-income countries where people are living with the threat of malaria and other vector borne diseases.

It is our hope to use these photos to raise awareness with donors to NGO’s and faith based organizations, especially in rich industrialized countries. At the end of the day this initiative is targeted at raising more funds for humanitarian aid organizations that serve those in need.

We welcome photos from areas and regions of the world where malaria is a concern - especially photos from Africa and Central America.

Use of Submitted Photos
The winners name and photograph will be published on Bestnet’s website www.bestneteurope.com  and will be featured in our brand new e-newsletter BESTNET ONLINE. The winner’s name will also be   announced before, during and after the donation as the individual responsible for the donation.

Bestnet may also use the photos submitted in our informational and promotional materials to promote and support healthcare initiatives for combating malaria and other vector borne diseases.

 Contest Rules

 The contest rules are simple.

•  Eligibility: The contest is open to all entrants who are at least 18 years of age as of the date of entering the contest.
• Entry fee: Free
• Entry deadline: 01-JULY-2010 - 1200H +GMT
• Copyrighst: All entrants will retain full ownership of the copyrights for the photographs submitted and may use the photograph(s) submitted for any lawful purpose.
• By submitting photograph(s) to Bestnet Europe Ltd., the owner of the photograph(s) agrees to grant to Bestnet Europe Ltd. an exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide license to use, reproduce, copy, publish, display, distribute, adapt, or modify the submitted photograph(s) for use by Bestnet Europe Ltd in any media, with or without attribution to the entrant and without any further compensation.

 Please send your best photos to: JM@BestnetEurope.com 

Environmental Friendliness

Bestnet Europe Ltd. takes its philosophy of corporate social responsibility very seriously and strives to continue to be identified as an environmentally responsible company.  This is why we have opted to manufacture our Netprotect^® products utilizing methods and materials that reflect our concern for respecting and preserving the environment. 

Netprotect^® mosquito nets are made from polyethylene, by a process which is more environmentally friendly than the process by which polyester nets are made. The extrusion temperature is lower, so less energy consumption is required, the colouring process is non-polluting and stable, and excess netting resulting from our cutting and sewing processes are recycled along with other waste materials.

The simple fact that polyethylene mosquito nets last longer than polyester nets means that there is reduced environmental impact. Netprotect^® polyethylene mosquito nets have an average lifespan of five years; while polyester nets only have an average lifespan of 2 to 3 years. Longer lifespan means less waste, and less use of natural resources.

Ever conscious of our environment, we use our insecticide in a very low concentration and incorporate the insecticide into the actual fibers of the yarn in a manner which results in most of the insecticide being located inside the yarn itself.  This reduces the risk of the insecticide entering into the atmosphere or being lost into the environment by inadvertently being deposited onto user’s hands or other surfaces.

Harvesting the power of wind energy has become one of our latest ventures in our commitment to respect for the environment.  Large wind turbines are being used as a power source at one of our manufacturing facilities. It is Bestnet’s intention to utilize this powerful renewable energy resource whenever and wherever possible.

Great care is employed to reduce waste when planning the cutting and sewing of our polyethylene fabric into mosquito nets.  Any and all materials that can be recycled in the process are considered valuable resources that serve to reduce our impact on the environment.

Whether choosing our sources for raw materials, selecting our manufacturing facilities, establishing warehousing locations, deciding on transportation methods, or appointing our agents and distribution partners, Bestnet Europe Ltd. gives high priority to environmental awareness both with respect to internal and external environmental issues.

As a final method of respect for the environment, Bestnet encourages all international travelers using Netprotect^®  to leave their mosquito nets behind in the country that they are visiting, for use by others. Not only will the mosquito nets serve to protect other individuals, but passing the long lasting insecticidal net on to another user eliminates the possibility that the net will be needlessly discarded once the original owner has finished using it. Thus, reducing waste.

Bestnet Europe Ltd. is committed as a company to identifying new and exciting methods and materials in the continuation of our quest to have the least amount of environmental impact possible. Our employees are constantly searching for and implementing new ideas to help us meet our goal.