Lives shattered by Covid-19 alcohol ban
‘The unsung heroes of the war on waste are starving’
ALCOHOL connoisseurs are not the only people who have suffered through the liquor ban during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Across the country, thousands of small businesses and glass recycling collectors are on their knees as the ban on alcohol sales has had a heavy impact on the production and recycling of glass packaging, said Shabeer Jhetam, chief executive of The Glass Recycling Company.
He said small-scale entrepreneurs, buy-back centres and cullet (small glass fragments used to make new glass from recycled glass) vendors have been hit hard because of the lack of trade brought about by the limited sales of products in glass packaging.
“Many of these small businesses, operated by disadvantaged individuals, have over the past 14 years benefited from support and training in building their recycling operations from the ground up, but now they face near certain closure because it has become impossible for them to sell their recyclable glass,” Jhetam said.
Glass manufacturers have been unable to produce and sell alcoholic beverage bottles, and cannot receive or buy recyclable cullet, he said.
This in turn has had a dramatic impact on the recycling supply chain since larger entrepreneurs cannot afford to collect or buy glass from buyback centres, while buy-back centres have been unwilling to buy glass from street collectors.
“In theory, recycling is permitted at an operating capacity of 50% during level 4 of the South African lockdown, but in reality, these collectors have been unable to make any income,” Jhetam said.
Entrepreneurs have been unable to fund the collection of communities’ glass recycling from recycling banks, leading to excess glass building up and collection points not being regularly serviced across communities.
The majority of glass collectors and small recycling businesses cannot claim grants, including UIF, because they fall into the informal sector.
“The poorest of the poor in our communities, facing the prospect of a consistently empty stomach, are now coping with near insurmountable odds in their daily lives. These dedicated workers, often the unsung heroes in our war on waste and climate change, are starving,” he said.
Jhetam said the level 4 ban has been catastrophic for the industry and that if it was not lifted it would result in the downfall of the glass manufacturing industry and the upstream and downstream supply chains in the South African market.
President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced the ban on the sale of alcohol would be lifted come Monday.
“Alcohol will be sold for home consumption, only under strict conditions, only on specified days and for limited hours,” the president said.