Packaging body has big ideas for waste
Mpact’s quest for a more circular economy is in line with document sent to government proposing ways to stimulate growth, writes Penny Haw
Responding to the government’s 2017 call on the paper and packaging, electrical and electronic, and lighting industries to develop and present wastemanagement plans, industry body Packaging SA submitted its extended producer responsibility (EPR) plan to the department of environmental affairs in September.
The document provides a consolidated, multistream industry waste-management plan for the paper and packaging sector based on the EPR model and, says the association, takes a broader view. It looks at the needs of SA and proposes means of stimulating an economy to “foster meaningful work opportunities, encourage partnerships and provide a platform for transformation”.
With a five-year aim of increasing recycled tonnage from 2.2-million tons (58.2%) to 2.7-million tons (66.9%) of total paper and packaging, the plan (which can be accessed at www.packagingsa.co.za) is “part of a bigger strategy to transition SA towards a more circular economy”.
The quest for a more circular economy has been on the agenda of paper and plastics packaging company Mpact for almost 50 years when, as Mondi Packaging SA, it began kerbside collections.
“In those days people hoarded paper in their homes, so we went to them to collect newspapers, magazines and the like,” says CEO of Mpact Bruce Strong. “Through those efforts, we not only developed good expertise in collecting waste on a disaggregated basis and recycling it, but also an understanding of what people do with their waste and how they go about disposing of it.”
This, he stresses, is crucial to workable recycling: “The only thing that sustains recycling in the economy is the demand for and access to recyclable material for processing.”
These days Mpact Recycling is one of Southern Africa’s leading recyclers, collecting and reprocessing paper and paper packaging, liquid packaging cartons, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, and old beer and milk crates and wheelie bins. But it’s not easy.
“When in 2016 the Ellen MacArthur Foundation put forward a paper on the circular economy at the World Economic Forum, a number of major multinationals committed to reducing the nonrecyclables they introduce into the system and to increasing their rates of recycling,” says Strong. “The reality, though, is that there are only a few options available at the moment to do that. We, however, invested in relevant state-of-the-art packaging and recycling equipment and technologies, not only for the processing of new material from recyclables but also for the creation of new products using that material.”
With 70% of total paper available for recovery recycled, recycling of paper in SA is on a par with that of developed countries. Mpact added to this when it completed an R800m upgrade of its Felixton paper mill in northern KwaZulu-Natal during 2017. The project resulted in reduced conversion of virgin fibre (from sugar cane) and increased usage of 100,000 tons of recycled fibre year.
The company’s R46m liquid packaging recycling plant at its Springs paper mill in Joburg also began operating last year.
It has annual capacity of recycling 24,000 tons of used liquid cartons.
Mpact began recycling PET when it commissioned its R350m plant in Wadeville, Gauteng, in 2015. The endeavour, concedes Strong, “has been a hard road” with the company learning that while recently discarded PET bottles are largely trouble free to process, many dug out of waste sites contain mud and grit, which erode machinery parts.
“So, while the plant is running and producing goodquality products, throughput is less than we expected,” he says. “We have a number of interventions in place, the last of which will be a complete overhaul of the washing process to be commissioned in a few months. The modified washing system will help us deal with the quality of the waste we have in SA, which makes more sense than believing waste conditions will get better. We’re optimistic that [with the washing solution] we’ll continue to make a difference to SA and operate a profitable PET recycling business.”