Don’t wage war on plastics – wage war on pollution

NOBODY is more disgusted at plastic pollution than those of us who work in the plastics industry. It is distressing to see our products washed up on beaches and littering the landscape. The global call going out to ban plastic products is, however, a very simplistic response to a complex problem.

It is tempting to imagine a world without plastic as some sort of environmental utopia. Something that many of those leading the call to “wage war on plastic” fail to understand, is the terrible impact that alternative materials have on the environment.

The fact is that plastic – if disposed of correctly – is one of the most environmentally friendly products there is.

When used in consumer goods, plastic uses four times less energy than alternative materials such as metal, paper and glass. In fact, alternatives to plastic packaging would nearly double greenhouse gas emissions.

And this is where the solution to plastic pollution can be found: in the correct disposal and management of plastic waste.

For this reason, we are boldly stating that waging war on plastic is not the answer. Instead, the time has come to start waging war on plastic pollution.

To win the war on plastic pollution, every roleplayer in the plastics industry needs to confront some hard truths. Whilst this includes us as the producers of plastics, it also includes government and consumers.

From our side, we are willing to make bold and constructive changes to our products. A major step forward in this direction has been the forming of the South African Alliance to End Plastic Pollution in the Environment - a united group of all role players in the local plastics value chain who are collaborating to prevent and ultimately end plastic pollution in the environment.

Our first priority is tackling problematic “single use” packaging by finding solutions and developing the best environmentally sustainable applications, but we are also focusing our attention on ways to urgently need to increase the plastics recycling rates and make more products available with increased recycled content. We have prioritised new, scalable technologies within the industry that enable the creation of value from all plastics once they have been used.

For these efforts to be successful, we need to work closely in partnership with government. We need government to urgently fix South Africa’s inadequate waste management facilities and improve infrastructure for collection and recycling.

In doing so, it can create thousands of new jobs while safeguarding the 100 000 formal and informal jobs that the plastics industry currently provides.

To start financing the upgrade of our flawed waste management system, our view is that government must immediately take steps to ring-fence the plastic bag levy that was implemented back in 2003.

This levy has increased from 3c per bag in 2003 to 12c in 2018. The nearly R2 billion that has been raised through the levy so far, should never have been absorbed into the black hole of our national fiscus.

Instead, the levy should have been ring-fenced for its intended purpose: to develop better recycling facilities and incentivise sustainable consumer behaviour.

In the coming weeks and months, we, as the plastics industry, will embark on a sustained campaign to persuade government and citizens to join us in the war on plastic pollution.

We support President Cyril Ramaphosa’s quest to clean up South Africa, but it can only happen if there is a recycling revolution in this country.

A rational conversation about plastic pollution recognises the positive attributes of plastic and focuses on how to manage plastic waste.

The time has come to have that rational conversation, and we look forward to leading the discussion.