A unique recycling pilot programme in Joburg has delivered welcome results for a sector brought to its knees by the coronavirus lockdown, with informal reclaimers now returning to work after months of enforced quarantine. Data shows how the programme not only boosted the city’s recycling rates and the number of households which actively recycle, but also created much-needed … [Read more...]
SA’s waste reclaimers tell of their lockdown relief
Informal waste reclaimers have spoken of the dire straits they are facing after being forced to stay home as non-essential workers during the Covid-19 national lockdown, leaving their families unsure of where their next meal will come from. In response, the country’s packaging sector has rallied to their aid, raising funds for the donation and distribution of electronic … [Read more...]
Small recycling businesses in Boksburg receive welcome boost
Recycling SMMEs received support from the PET recycling sector earlier this month in the form of equipment that will enable their effective participation in the mandatory recycling programme launched by the City of Ekurhuleni this month. This follows concerns from small industry players and informal waste collectors that they could be sidelined by the new … [Read more...]
Decade of PET recyling brings benefits across the board
Did you know that after ten years in the industry almost half of all our PET beverage bottles are now recycled? That is 1.9 billion bottles per year diverted from the waste stream. The PET Recycling Company (Pty) Ltd was registered on the 3rd November 2004 and their first set of Directors included the late Rob Rodger, Bob Naidoo, Syd Carter, Roger Thomas, Mandla Tisani, … [Read more...]
Glass recycling grows fast to 40%
Do you know who promotes the reuse and the recovery of glass for recycling of glass in our country? The Glass Recycling Company (TGRC) was born in July 2006 from a partnership between National Government, glass manufacturers, recyclers and fillers. Their aim is to ensure that man’s purest packaging medium doesn’t end up in the waste stream at landfill. This is achieved … [Read more...]
Winners of student design competition announced
The Plastics Institute of South Africa (PISA) has announced the winners of the Student Design Competition, held in partnership with POLYCO (the industry association promoting the recycling of polyolefin plastics in South Africa), Plastics|SA, Afrimold and the Universities of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg (UJ) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). Addressing … [Read more...]
Bottle to bottle a major achievement
Did you know that in our country all the used PET containers 'your clear beverage and water bottles' collected for recycling are recycled into local products? Unlike many other countries, we don't export these resources to China, but create mainly fibre and more recently new foodgrade packaging. This means that as more and more post consumer PET bottles are collected, so … [Read more...]
Pioneering recycling Part 1: Against all odds
No matter where I travel across the country, I inevitably find folk lamenting their desperate desire to have their household waste recycled. Either there's an almost uniform waste guilt permeating South Africans, or perhaps talking recycling is the average person's default recourse when they find themselves in the company of a serious greeny. That's when I realise again how … [Read more...]
