Paper recycling rate up
SA successfully diverted 1.4million tonnes of recyclable paper and paper packaging from landfill in 2016. This is equivalent to the weight of 280,000 adult African elephants or would cover 254 soccer fields.
The Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (Prasa) confirms that the annual paper recovery rate has sustained 2% year-on-year growth since 2012 and now stands at 68.4%, which represents the percentage of paper products that can be recovered and excludes books and archived records, and items that are contaminated or destroyed when used, such as tissue, hygiene products and cigarette paper.
In 2001, Prasa reported a 38% paper recovery rate, a figure that rose to 59% in 2011. The association had projected paper recycling rates would rise to 63% by the end of 2017. By 2016 the paper and paper packaging industry well exceeded this with its 2015 figure of 66% of the nation’s recoverable paper and cardboard being recycled into new paper products
“This surpasses the global average of 58%,” says Prasa operations director Ursula Henneberry. Recovered paper — the paper and cardboard put in our recycling bins — is a valuable raw material that South African manufacturers have been using as an alternative fibre since 1920.
“Everyone uses paper products, so we should all be recyclers. It’s good for the environment. It saves landfill space, reduces unnecessary emissions and encourages a waste-conscious lifestyle,” says Henneberry.
It’s good for our economy too, as it provides an income stream for street collectors and keeps paper recycling operations in business.
From street collectors to the people employed in the sector, paper recycling creates meaningful employment for about 37,000 people.