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Publication

CAPE TIMES BUSINESS REPORT

Page

15

Date

Fri 28 Feb 2020

AVE (ZAR)

21538.13

SALES REPRESENTATIVE: GREG STOCK

WRITER: LORAINE TULLEKEN

IN SOUTH AFRICA, lessthan half of allplastic packaging is recycled, with theremainderbeing landfilled - or worst-casescenario,ending up in the environment.To achieve a circular economy for plas-ticswhere no plasticbecomeswaste,weneed to fundamentally rethink the waywedesign,useand reuseplastic,accordingto Dr Kirsten Barnes,GreenCape for theSouth AfricanPlasticsPact.

She cautions however that this can-not be achieved by a singleorganisation,"Businesses, government, NGOs and oth-ers,need to collaborate.And our recentlyformedPact,is the idealplatformfor con-certed action. Notably, all stakeholdershave signeda joint setof ambitious andtime-bound targets to drive significantchangeby 2025.The signatoriesto dateareAddis - USABCO, Clicks, Coca-Cola Africa,Danone, Distell, Homechoice, Massmart,Myplas, Nampak Rigids, Palletplast,Pickn Pay, RCL Foods, Shoprite, Spar, Spur,The Foschini Group, Tiger Brands, Tuffy,Unilever, WastePlan and Woolworths, withsupporting members the City of CapeTown, the Depar tment of Environment,Forestry and Fisheries, Fruit South Africa,the Institute of Waste Management ofSouthern Africa, PETCO, Polyco, the Pol-ystyrene Association, the South AfricanNational Bottled Water Association, the

DR KIRSTEN BARNES

SouthAfricanPlasticsRecyclingOrganisa-tion, the South African Vinyls Association,WRAPUK andWWE.

"Essentially, the SouthAfricanPlasticsPactisacollaborative initiative that bringstogether key stakeholdersfrom the localplasticsvalue chain, including businesses,the SouthAfricangovernment, NGOs andother organisationsto tackleplasticswasteand pollution at its source.

"As apre-competitive platformit aimsto stimulateindustry led innovation, dia-logueandcollaborationto createnewbusi-nessmodelsand unlock barriersto movetowards the circular economy for plastic,with improved economic,environmentaland societaloutcomesoverall."

The PlasticsPact, she assures,will build

AFocusonthe SouthAfricanPlasticsPact2020. Innovativecollaborationgearstotransformplasticspackagingindustrywithinfiveyears

on the positive work startedby other ini-tiatives and help scaleup and dissemi-nate good practice more quickly. "Weare determined that within five yearsthecountry's plasticpackagingsectorwill betransformed."

The ambitious targets include:* Taking actionon problematicor unnecessaryplasticpackagingthrough redesign, innovation or alternative (re-use)delivery models

* 100percentof plasticpackagingto bereusable,recyclableor compostable*

* 70percentof plasticpackagingeffectively recycled

* 30 percent averagerecycledcontentacrossall plasticpackaging.She adds, "Importantly these targets

will also stimulate job creation in theSouthAfricanplasticscollectionand recy-cling sectorwhile helping to createnewopportunities in product designand reusebusinessmodels."

One of the first actionssincethe pro-gramme launch on 30January is devel-opment of a high-level roadmap for adetailed action plan geared to meet the2025targets.It will involve all actorsin thesystemand the UK's Wasteand ResourcesAction Programme (WRAP) has securedfunding to supportwith this.

Sustainingtheenvironment,strengtheningtheeconomy,enablingtransformationPETCO, an industry driven and financedcompany, increasedthe recyclingof poly-ethyleneterephthalate(PET)plasticbottlesin SouthAfricafrom ameretwo percentin2004to 63percentin 2018- 98649tonnesequalling 2,3 billion bottles.

"That," CEO Cheri Scholtz reveals,"equates to 6,Z2millionbottles collecteddaily and a substantialachievement in arelatively short period.

"PET was formed when South Afri-can producers realised that collectivelyaddressing their responsibilities withrespect to post-consumer waste wouldbe more effective and efficient than gov-ernment-imposed regulation. Membersinclude brand-owners, resin producers,convertersand bottlers.

"The goal is to capitalise on theexpectedgrowth in the market for recy-cledPETand to actasthe vehicle throughwhich the industry can self-regulateandco-ordinate its recycling activities."

The non-profit company does notcollector recyclewaste,choosing insteadto financially support activitiesalong thewastevalue chain. A voluntary EPRispaidby manufacturers,bottlers,and importers.Resinproducersandbrand ownerscontrib-

ute annual grantswhich support recyclers(or, more accurately,reprocessors),par-ticularly during adverseeconomiccycles.

Scholtz says, "The PET market priceis linked to fluctuations in oil prices,exchangerates,demand from largecoun-tries such as China, and other factors,so it can be a volatile market. Supportfor the recycling value chain is paid outat contracted rates for tonnages, in linewith our annual recycling targets.In turn,recyclersensure a consistentdemand forpost-consumerPETfrom collectors.Manyofwhom operateinformally, either at thekerbsideor at landfills.

"Through targeted support of recy-cling operations, we have stimulatedthedevelopment of local end-use marketsas well as the export of fibre producedfrom bottlesthatwould have endedup inlandfill sites.More recently, Bottle-2-BottlePlants,including twoCoca-Colaapprovedbottle-grade PET recycling plants, wereestablishedwith our support and invest-ments to manufacture PETstrappingandmonofilament exclusively from post-con-sumermaterial.An important revival stepin a sectorthat has for many yearsbeenservicedalmostexclusively by imports."

CHERI SCHOLTZ

Presently the collection network ofpost-consumermaterial is largely unregu-latedor self-regulated,with no widespreadmunicipal separationat-sourcecollectionsystemsin place. Recyclablesare mostlyrecoveredfromco-mingledwasteby anet-work of informal collectorsandmicro-en-trepreneurs. They collect, consolidateand supply post-consumer PET bottlesto industrial-scale recycling operations,typically via intermediary agentssuch asbuy-backcentres.In many citiesPETrecy-cling activitiesprovide income generatingopportunitiesandimproved livelihoodsforthe urban poor.