Recycling mindset is slowly taking root
The country’s plastic and paper reuse industries are making important strides forward to reduce waste to landfill, writes Lynette Dicey
Most of SA’s waste ends up in landfills, but this is starting to change with more awareness of the environmental benefits of recycling.
While more can be done to encourage households to recycle, says Plastics SA, which represents the local plastics industry, SA has a dynamic plastics recycling industry.
Findings of its recycling survey include that 500,000 tons of plastic waste were collected for recycling in 2018. SA had 300 recycling firms, of which 20% were doing 70% of the reported tonnages.
Anton Hanekom, executive director of Plastics SA, says the plastics industry has made important strides forward.
“Plastic bag manufacturers removed the fillers that were traditionally used to produce bags to make them fully recyclable. Some carrier bags now contain 100% certified recycled plastic material. This not only helps to create an endmarket for recycled plastic, but reduces waste to landfill.. By ensuring that the products we create become part of a circular economy we create a win-win situation for the environment and for an industry that employs about 60,000 people.”
Plastics SA is involved with the Clean-up and Recycle SA Douw Steyn.
Week initiative this week with National Recycling Day and International Coastal Clean-Up Day. Its involvement in this event began in 1996 when it was launched as a project of the local plastics industry and Ezemelo/KZNl Wildlife.
Since then, says Douw Steyn, sustainability director of Plastics SA, it has grown to include the participation of all the packaging streams and is supported by plastic raw material suppliers, converters, brand owners and retailers, product responsibility organisations, recycling bodies, conservationists and the government.
“We unite our actions around the common goal of removing as much litter as we possibly can from the environment. At the same time, we teach people how to dispose of their waste in a responsible way by highlighting the importance of recycling materials that can be used to create new products, generate employment and reduce our impact on the environment,” he says.
Plastics SA supports organisations that host their own clean-ups by donating branded garbage disposal bags, as well as offering advice on how to organise a clean-up, and where and how to recycle.
Steyn says it is encouraging to see growing public awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution, but the challenge is far from over. “To reach our objectives of sending zero waste to landfill, dramatically reducing our environmental footprint and creating a circular economy, we need everybody’s participation. The issue of waste in the environment is a global problem, and the solution will require a global effort.”
Paper recycling has made similar strides in recent years. SA recovered 1.285-million tons of recyclable paper in 2018, putting the paper recovery rate at 71.7%, well above the global average of 59.3%, says Anele Sololo, GM of Recycle Paper ZA. She adds that the sector uses more than 90% of recovered paper for the local beneficiation of new paper, packaging and tissue, while the balance of waste paper is exported.
The Paper Manufacturers Association of SA (Pamsa) has launched Fibre Circle, a voluntary producer responsibility organisation aimed at facilitating producer responsibility among paper makers, importers, brand owners and retailers.
The shift away from plastic and single-use packaging has created a wave of interest in alternatives such as packaging paper and liquid packaging board, explains Jane Molony, Pamsa executive director.
Fibre Circle has been established as a public benefit organisation that will administer and drive various projects to divert paper and paper-based packaging from SA’s landfills.
“This is a proactive step to support the principles of the circular economy,” says Molony. “Paper is made from farmed trees which absorb carbon as they grow. This carbon remains locked in the products. By recycling paper products we ensure that this carbon is kept locked up for longer, thus mitigating climate change.”
Fibre Circle members pool resources towards sustainable industry-managed projects that will ensure more paper and packaging is recovered from consumers and diverted from landfill, more people are trained in the collection and recovery of paper and, in turn, more jobs are created, she adds.