Slowly, SA moves to recycle more

Despite a downturn, employment is on the up in recycling, writes

SOUTH Africans were slowly changing their habits towards recycling plastic, throwing nearly 293 000 tons into recycle bins last year, a three percent rise on 2014 and a shift that contributed to the 5.5 percent compound growth in the past five years.

However, these good intentions still only diverted 20 percent of the total plastic away from landfill sites and into alternative use.

The figures emerged in the Plastics SA annual recycling report released earlier this month. The local plastics industry’s umbrella organisation has measured South Africa’s recycling rates for the past 20 years and releases its statistics annually.

Plastics SA executive director Anton Hanekom said in total 310 641 tons of plastic was diverted from landfills, a marginal drop from 2014 due to the reduction in the export of recyclable waste.

“The plastics recycling industry globally is taking strain with 2015 being one of the toughest years in more than a generation.

This is due to the historically low oil prices that led to lower polymer prices and directly impacted on the price of recycled material,” Hanekom said.

Consequently, there was a slowdown in the amount of plastics that could be diverted from landfill sites.

However, the industry continued contributing to job creation with formal employment in the plastics recycling sector rising 3.3 percent to 6 234 permanent jobs and informal employment growing three percent to nearly 50 000 collectors.

Hanekom said the industry invested 48 percent more in capital equipment per ton of material processed to deal with the increasing demands and improved quality requirements. Two years ago the industry adopted the vision for sending no plastic to landfills by 2030 and players have been united in efforts to achieve this objective.

“South Africa has a thriving recycling industry that creates jobs for thousands of people. Yet, it is frustrating to see there is still not an established recycling culture in our country – we still see too much plastic ending up in landfills that could have been recycled many times over into various new products,” he said.

The report highlighted that the lack of a consistent incoming stream of recyclables was the single largest challenge facing recyclers. A significant quantity of the materials made available for recycling was recovered by waste pickers off landfill sites where they were contaminated and of poor quality.

In Limpopo, where demand outstripped supply, up to 40 percent of materials had to be scrapped due to impurities. This highlighted the need for an effective separation-at-source infrastructure nationally.

“Recycling is a manufacturing process that needs to make money to be sustainable, yet recyclers operate in an increasingly difficult environment with high operating costs, tight margins and daily challenges like load shedding, escalating electricity costs, water shortages and a general economic downturn,” Hanekom said.

While recycling was a cyclical, commodity-based business, there was the public perception and expectation that the industry had to save the planet, extend the supply of natural resources, provide cheaper raw materials, create sustainable jobs, fix the image of plastic littering and rid the country of its visible litter problem – without costing anyone.

Hanekom said the industry was a key job creator that required support for its continued growth and development. The report highlighted several key areas that required attention before South African recycling figures would rise.

The first was political will, in that decision makers and legislators were unaware of the challenges and achievements at ground level. Consequently the industry would invite these role players to recycling plants to demonstrate the intricacies of plastics recycling.

Plastic converters have committed to voluntary levies to encourage recycling and created awareness, but more products must be designed with their recyclability in mind. Hanekom said waste pickers, collectors and recyclers also needed education on the various materials and basic chemical principles that impacted on the recycle quality.

“The public needs to be educated about separating-atsource and to insist on recyclable packaging,” he said.