1Green Office Official Presentation

Waste defined& the law

Waste definedNational Environmental Management:Waste Act, 2008 Act No. 59 of 2008

‘‘waste’’ means any substance, whether or not that substance can bereduced, re-used, recycled and recovered -(a) that is surplus, unwanted, rejected, discarded, abandoned or disposed

of;(b)which the generator has no further use of for the purposes of

production;(c) that must be treated or disposed of; or(d)that is identified as a waste by the Minister by notice in the Gazette,

and includes waste generated by the mining, medical or other sector,but-

(i) a by-product is not considered waste; and(ii) any portion of waste, once re-used, recycled and

recovered, ceases to be waste

Waste & the lawSouth African Waste Information Centre

www.sawic.org.za

Waste & the lawThe Waste Act adopts the waste hierarchy as a national

approach to waste management

Waste & the law

At the National Waste Summit held in Polokwane duringSeptember 2001, the Polokwane Declaration was adoptedwhich commits South Africa to a reduction of 50% in theamount of waste being landfilled by 2012 and to zero wasteby 2022.

Waste statistics

Waste statistics – South AfricaEach person in South Africa between 0.5 & 2kg of waste / dayThis amounts to 2 bins per week in an urban householdFrom: DEAT. 2005. National Waste Management Strategy Implementation South Africa Recycling

Source: DEAT. 2005. Working With Waste. Guideline on Recycling of Solid Waste.

Waste statistics - eThekwini

Source: eThekwini Integrated Waste Management Plan, 2004

≈182.5 – 292 kg/person/annum

Recycling statistics

Source: DEAT. 2005. National Waste Management StrategyImplementation South Africa. Recycling.

WasteManagement

Hierarchal management of waste

Eliminate

Avoidance &minimisation

Reuse

Recycling

Disposal

Can this container bereturned to supplier for re-use?

Encourage staff to issueelectronic rather thanpaper copies of reports

Can cardboard boxes bere-used e.g. for storage?

Recycle office wasteStart an office worm farm

Dispose of non-recycables

Mostfavoured

Leastfavoured

Elements of a waste management system

DisposalRecycling

Collection & transport

Temporary storage

Waste generationWaste avoidance

Waste avoidance& minimisation

Reduce paper waste

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Reduce• Print preview• Adjust margins• Print duplex• Electronic alternatives

Re-use• Use the clean side of

the page for notes &telephone messages

Recycle• Once used on both sides,

recycle

Empty printer cartridges

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Divert re-usable &recyclable materialsfrom landfill

Value of printercartridge donated tocharity

Create employmentopportunities forpersons withdisabilities

Environment

SocialEconomic

Donate used items

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Waste recycling

Waste recycling

“Recycling is the process whereby discardedproducts and materials are reclaimed or recovered,refined or reprocessed, and converted into new ordifferent products”*

*DEAT. 2005. Working With Waste. Guideline on Recycling of Solid Waste.

Waste recycling

Source: http://www.petco.co.za/

Common recyclablesPaper

CardboardMagazinesNewspaper

CansPlastic Glass

Electronic waste Printer cartridges BatteriesTetrapak

CFL’sPolystyrene

Common items that cannot be recycled• Dirty / contaminated recyclables

• Biodegradable plastics / tissues

• Potato crisp packets

• Car windshields

• Laminates (plastic & metal foil)

• Plasticised cardboard

• Adhesives (e.g. stickers)

• Wax paper

Recycling benefits

Source: http://www.enviroserv.co.za/

• Conserve resources for future generations

• Create job

• Support the local economy

• Avoid degradation of natural habitats

• Promote the development of greener technologies

• Reduce the amount of litter

• Reduce landfill dumping

• Save energy

• Decrease GHG emissions and water pollution

greenOFFICE example

0 5 10 15 20

2009

2010

Tons CO2e

16.6395 ton CO2e

4.1843ton CO2e

Waste recycling:Implementation

Waste audit• Identify where waste is generated• Identify types & quantities of wastes• Identify origin of each waste type• Identify potential waste reduction areas

• Establish a baseline of data• Monitoring & evaluation• Set reduction targets

Waste audit

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Reception

Boardroom Office 1 Kitchen Womenablution

Menablution

Office 2Open plan office

Printer

Fax

Operations & outputs

Kitchens/

canteen

Bathrooms

Offices

PaperNewspaperPackaging(plastic,cardboard,polystyrene)Printer cartridgesBatteriesElectronic wasteLight bulbs

Food wasteTinGlassPlastic bottles /bagsEmpty detergentbottles

Kitchen towelToilet roll holder

Office waste profile

Green Office Official Presentation 29

Cardboard15%

Paper65%

Plastic6%

Food waste5%

Metal2%

Glass2%

Other5%

Source: www.wastecare.com

greenOFFICE example

Green Office Official Presentation 30

Cardboard75%

Office paper6%

Common mix waste5%

Plastic (LD clear)1%

Plastic (LD colour)2%

Plastic (bubble wrap)3%

Plastic wrap1%

Plastics HD1%

Plastic PP1%

Plastic PET2%

Polystyrene1%

Cans1%

Glass1%

Recycle bins

Wet / dry

Sorting at source

Central sorting / storage area

Recyclers

Source: http://www.iwmsa.co.za/

Outsource

Drop off points

• Rechargeable batteries• CFL light bulbs• Printer cartridges• E-waste

http://www.iwmsa.co.za/

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http://www.recycling.co.za/

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Staff awarenessHold a kick off event• Training• Competition• Neighborhood clean up

Awareness posters

Generate enthusiasm by recognizingachievement

Provide incentives

Celebrate environmental events• National Clean up Week12 – 17 September 2011• National Recycling Day16 September 2011• Green Office Week16-20 April 2012

Monitoring & evaluation

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

Sep-

10

Oct

-10

Nov

-10

Dec

-10

Jan-

11

Feb-

11

Mar

-11

Apr-

11

May

-11

Jun-

11

Jul-1

1

Wei

ght (t

ons)

…and BEYOND

Waste or aresource:

the greenABLEstory

Printer cartridge recycling

From: Sapi, 2008

Approximately 16% of laser cartridgescannot be remanufactured:• Damaged• End of useful life

Printer cartridge recycling

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Printer cartridges are deemedhazardous according to SANS 10228and require disposal in a H:h (lowhazard) landfill.However, when empty & clean, thecartridges are non-hazardous.Recycling adds to the minimisation ofenvironmental risk, as detailed inSANS 10228 and 10229.

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Printer cartridge recycling

Plastic Metal

greenABLEgreenABLE is the only printer cartridgerecycling facility in Africa. greenABLEonly employs people with disabilities withthe goal of changing the environment aswell as empowering people withdisabilities, and show that they can makea difference to important “earthly” issues.

greenABLE also empowers persons withdisabilities through:• Our agent programme that creates

entrepreneurship ventures for spinalcord injured persons

• A bursary fund for university studentswith disabilities

greenABLE recycling

Trash today Employment forpersons withdisabilitiestomorrow

Housing thecommunity

the next day

greenABLE staff

greenABLE employees Noklunga (left) and Zonke (right)illustrate that your empty printer cartridges don’t need to endup in landfill, they can be can be recycled into roof tiles for low

house housing and create employment for persons withdisabilities.

greenABLE recycled products

Waste or aresource:

Earth Bricks

Builders rubble

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Compressed Earth Block Manufacturing

51

30% of the total waste stream as a 30% blend of rubbleand soil waste can make enough blocks for 490,000 RDP-sized houses per year

Green Office Official Presentation

Compressed Earth Block Manufacturing

Earth bricks

Green Office Official Presentation

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Types of printer cartridges - inkjetCarla HiggsSustainability LeadergreenOFFICEcarla@greenoffice.co.za