Recycling is not work, it’s a way of life

Douw Bezuidenhout, Henque Waste:

The opinion piece on recycling (28 June 2018) by Myron Rabinowitz refers.

In the recycling industry we have a saying which is proven to be correct: "Make recycling easy and more people will recycle".

There are 5 basic types of paper products on the market. Each of these 5 types have sub-categories that make the different paper product types more than 12. The same applies to plastic products. Between the 7 different types, there are up to 6 sub-categories per item (including food packaging). Even though material does not always have the international identification number, its origins and compositions can be determined and recycled.

As Mr. Rabinowitz said in his open letter, recycling is very time consuming and labour intensive, but companies must decide whether they are collectors of only high value materials or recyclers in the true sense of its meaning, to recycle everything available.

This will include low value recyclable materials as well. There is nothing in a household that is not recyclable. We normally teach people, "If it is dry, it can go in the recycle bag." We recycle to save our earth, not only for keeping it clean and to protect our natural resources, but where will we get new natural resources from if we burn recyclable materials in a waste to energy facility?

Studies have shown the waste to energy facility is not viable or sustainable without the high combustion power of recyclable materials such as paper and polymer products. The energy needed to fuel such a facility costs more than the output reached. Furthermore, if recyclables are burnt, the income loss for entrepreneurs will be devastating as thousands of jobs will be lost. Recycling is not work, it's a way of life.

We thank you for the opportunity to express our opinion.