Loretta Waterboer, the winner of the PETCO Awards Top Woman in Recycling, 2021 is a wonderful and passionate role model for female leadership in our industry, running her own business, LW Recycling and Trade, and partnering with the Mosselbank River Conservation Trust (MRCT) for a bigger impact in her community. When MRCT environmental officer Danielle Cronje started working … [Read more...]
Activist makes a vital difference to vulnerable communities
Outspoken, indefatigable, intrepid, impassioned. These are some of the many words that rightly describe Joanie Fredericks, “activist on the ground” extraordinaire in the community of Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain, on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape. We’re in this together. Extraordinary times require an extraordinary response. Our people and partners have responded by … [Read more...]
International Coastal Clean-up Day a huge success
Clean-Up & Recycle SA Week took place from 14 - 19 September 2020, culminating in National Recycling Day on Friday, 18 September and South Africa's 24th year of participating in the annual International Coastal Clean-Up Day on Saturday, 19 September. "With an emphasis on COVID-safe clean-ups this year, we asked coordinators to keep the numbers of volunteers to below … [Read more...]
Plastics industry tackles waste in the environment
The local plastics industry will once again demonstrate its commitment to cleaning up the environment and removing plastics litter from our rivers, streams, oceans and neighbourhoods when the annual Clean-up and Recycle SA Week takes place from 16-21 September 2019. According to Douw Steyn, Sustainability Director of Plastics|SA, this is the 23rd year that they will be … [Read more...]
Operation #Cleanup Durban a huge success
The South African plastics industry has one again proved that we don't merely pay lip service when it comes to looking after the environment - we act on our promises! Under the guidance of Plastics|SA's Sustainability Director, Douw Steyn, supported by the KZN Marine Waste Network and various other organisations and institutions, more than 300 tons of litter were removed … [Read more...]
Greenpeace activists ship plastic monster back to Nestlé factory
Greenpeace Africa activists and volunteers delivered a #PlasticMonster partly covered with Nestlé branded plastic packaging right back to its source: the Nestlé factory servicing Kenya and other East African countries, calling on the multinational corporation to end its reliance on single-use plastic. Activists also held protests at Nestlé offices in the Philippines, … [Read more...]
Greenpeace Africa volunteers start ambitious campaign for plastic ban
A group of Greenpeace Africa volunteers in Cape Town has started an ambitious campaign calling on South Africa's top political parties to adopt a ban on single-use plastics in their election manifestos ahead of this year's presidential election. The group is urging South Africa's political elite to recognise that the country is lagging behind in the continental battle … [Read more...]
Exciting journey ahead for Somkhanda
Somkhanda Game Reserve covers over 12 000 hectares of land and is a community reserve owned by the Emvokweni Community Trust (ECT) and co-managed with WILDLANDS, a programme of the WILDTRUST. Since its establishment in 2005, it has achieved major milestones and has in the process earned its status of being a ‘Big Five’ reserve. Currently, over 80 community members are employed … [Read more...]
South Africans unite for a clean environment
Thousands of South Africans rolled up their sleeves, put on their rubber gloves and took to the beaches on Saturday, 15 September 2018 as part of the first World Clean-up Day - the largest peacetime civic action in human history. Stretching across 24 different time zones, involving 144 countries and more than 13 million volunteers worldwide, World Clean-up Day started in … [Read more...]
New partnership aims to improve nutrition for SA children
Stunting or impaired growth remains prevalent amongst the poorest South African children. This can result in increased episodes of illness, poor cognitive function and poor educational attainment. Woolworths has announced a new partnership with UNICEF South Africa to help increase South African children’s access to good nutrition. In line with its aim to support … [Read more...]
Mexico death toll reaches 361 after massive earthquake
The death toll from Mexico's magnitude 7.1 earthquake rose to 361 on Sunday after another casualty was confirmed in the capital, where a search continued at a collapsed seven-story office building in a central neighborhood. National Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente reported on Twitter that the dead include 220 people killed in Mexico City by the Sept. 19 quake. The … [Read more...]
Can human urine replace chemical fertilizers?
The Rich Earth Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont, is likely the only organization measuring success in gallons of urine. In 2012, Kim Nace, Rich Earth’s administrative director and partner Abe Noe-Hays collected 600 gallons of urine from friends and neighbors. The next year, the organization brought in about 3,000 gallons from 170 human volunteers. Rebecca Rueter, a board … [Read more...]
Swapping plastic bottles for essential items helps community
The Rainbow Nation Recycling Club in Kini Bay outside Port Elizabeth is where the local children can exchange used PET bottles for credits. These can then be used to buy essentials and discounted day-to-day consumables from the swop shop. This little buy-back centre and a swop shop brings hope to the Clarendon Marine community. Early in June PETCO donated a 9 metre … [Read more...]
