More water bottles recycled than landfilled

For the 12 past years PET bottles are being recycled in South Africa and these numbers have climbed to include now more than those landfilled. An important milestone indeed.

This is all championed by PETCO  – PET Plastic Recycling South Africa. To celebrate their 12th year of operating in the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic recycling industry, key role-players in the industry gathered at The Venue Green Park, Sandton for the company’s AGM.

“We are delighted that for the eleventh successive year, the post-consumer PET bottle-recycling rate has increased, despite two of the biggest falls in oil prices seen in recent years,” says CEO Cheri Scholtz. “The 1.7 billion PET bottles that were collected across South Africa in 2015, which equates to approximately 4.7 million bottles collected every day, sustained over 50 000 income opportunities.”

4.7 million bottles collected every day

In its latest results for 2015, PETCO reports that the organisation recycled an additional 15% of post-consumer bottles in comparison to the previous year, with the total PET market growing by 8.5% to 210 000 tonnes. An annual PET recycling rate of 52% of post-consumer bottle PET was achieved and, for the first time, the comopany recycled more bottles than those going into landfill.

Scholtz continues: “While this is an extremely proud accomplishment, we could not have achieved this without the people, companies and organisations we work with that have made extraordinary contributions to the recycling of post-consumer PET in South Africa.”

On this proud day they also hosted the PETCO Awards to honour individuals, businesses and organisations that played a significant role in the PET recycling value chain in South Africa during the course of 2015.

“This is when we celebrate the great innovations, achievements and contributions made by individuals and organisations towards PET recycling in South Africa,” concludes Scholtz.

There were 13 deserving winners across nine categories, which included the Best Male and Female PET-trepreneur, the PETCO Recycling Champion, the Best Product using recycled PET (rPET), and many more.

The PETCO Award winners are as follows:

1. Best Recycling Information, Awareness and Education Programme: Gregory Player from Clean C

This award acknowledges projects and initiatives that have been set up to raise awareness on recycling amongst a specific target group. This includes school-, corporate-, or consumer-focussed programmes.

2. Best Product using recycled PET (rPET): Woolworths Holdings Limited

This award is awarded to the locally-produced product that best reflects a commitment to using rPET.

3. Designed for Recycling: Coca-Cola South Africa

This award recognises the organisation that recognises the importance of product design for end-of-life solutions through its manufacture of the most “recyclable” PET product. Brand owners in particular are encouraged to put forward nominations for products that are aligned with PETCO’s D4R guidelines.

4. PETCO Recycling Champion: Kimberley Recycling

This award recognises a successful project or initiative which has delivered greater recycling and/or improved sustainability in waste management. Nominations for this award can be from across the entire PET value chain, from retailers to recyclers, collectors to consumers.

5. PET Community Outreach and Upliftment: K1 Recycling, WasteWant, and the PEACE Foundation

This award recognises an individual or organisation whose ingenuity and perseverance has created and sustained successful business ventures in the PET collection or recycling industry that directly benefit and uplift the communities within which they operate.

6. Woman PET-trepreneur: Megan Leach from Envirowaste Recyclers, and Nomlindelo Modisang from Lindithando Construction & Projects

This award recognises a female entrepreneur whose ingenuity and perseverance has created and sustained a successful, growing business venture in the PET collection or recycling industry.

7. PET-trepreneur: Gcina Makhoba from Mpilenhle Recycling and Brian Masemola from Boremako Recycling

This award recognises a male entrepreneur whose ingenuity and perseverance has created and sustained a successful, growing business venture in the PET collection or recycling industry.

8. PET Recycling Local Authority Initiative: Lephalale Municipality

This award recognises a municipality whose quality of service delivery around waste management and recycling is exemplary and a model for other municipalities to follow.

9. PETCO’s Small- or Medium-sized Business Champion: Cannibal Glass

This award recognises an SMME within the PET value chain that has made an outstanding contribution to waste minimisation and/or job creation.