PETCO-EPRO hold successful summit in South Africa

The first South African and European colloquium on recycling was successfully held in Cape Town. Entitled “Global Partnerships for a Sustainable Recycling Sector: Sharing. Dialogue. Action,” the event was hosted by PETCO, the PET Recycling Company. Addressing just short of 200 delegates who attended the conference via video-feed, Janez Poto?nik, European Union Commissioner on the Environment, congratulated PETCO on taking the initiative to host the conference. Potochnik’s address was followed by six plenary sessions during which 15 members of the European Association of Plastic Recycling and Recovery Organisation (EPRO), and 15 of South Africa’s experts on recycling, waste management, recovery and sustainability delivered papers on the challenges, opportunities, latest trends and innovations in their respective areas of expertise. These and other points of discussion were debated and discussed in depth during a concluding panel debate, which allowed members of the audience to pose their questions and comments to local and international experts.

“South Africa can be proud of its accomplishments in the area of plastics recycling, which is one of the key building blocks of a Green Economy”, said Cheri Scholtz, CEO of PETCO. Explaining the importance of the South African / European colloquium for future partnerships she added, South Africa has been leading the rest of Africa in the area of plastic recycling and not far behind its European counterparts with its impressive recycling figures and innovative solutions developed for recycling and waste recovery. The goal of inviting EPRO to South Africa to have their first ever General Meeting on African soil and to participate in this pioneering international recycling colloquium was to create a platform for the sharing of ideas and set the stage for future global partnerships that would make this possible, according to Scholtz.

This sentiment was confirmed by Peter Sundt, Secretary-General of EPRO who had led the European delegation on their South African trip. “We were very impressed by the innovation and commitment seen on South African shores. As is the case in Europe, Extender Producer Responsibility is the main driver to stimulate collection and recovery of materials, where we achieved a recycling rate of 34 % for plastic packaging in the EU in 2012,” Sundt said.

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