South Africa plastic recycling rate on the rise

Over the last five years, Plastics|SA has been carefully measuring the recycling rate of plastics in South Africa.  Although the last comprehensive and complete survey was done for 2009, the association has been releasing annual updates to measure the trends in recycling. 

 “The plastics chain in South Africa employs over 60 000 people and is defined as a priority sector by the South African Government”, says Anton Hanekom, Executive Director of Plastics SA.  “The plastics industry has a combined turnover of approximately R50 billion and a consumption rate of close to 1,370 million tons per annum. It therefore stands to reason that a major focus for us is ensuring that plastics are properly disposed of and recycled and that a viable recycling sector is established and supported,” Hanekom explains.

Tonnages recycled and recovered

2012 has seen a 9,3 % increase (268 548 tons) in the amount of plastic recycled, whilst the amount of virgin polymer used also grew by 5.4 % (1370 ktons) in the same period. Similarly, the amount of plastics that were exported also increased (14 744 tons) during this year. 

“We are very excited and motivated by these figures, as they show that the local plastics industry is robust and healthy despite worldwide economic pressures,” Hanekom says.  “However, even more encouraging and worth highlighting is the fact that the total tonnage of plastics waste diverted from landfill equates to 20.7 % of all plastics manufactured in 2012, and that the local recycling rate was 19.6%  compared to international standards of 26.3 %”.

Packaging

In an effort to address the problem of plastics packaging contributing to visible litter, the South African plastics industry participated with other packaging role players in submitting the Paper and Packaging Industry Waste Management Plan to the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2011.  This plan aimed at reducing the plastic waste in the environment and it is starting to bear fruit, as we a total of 216 932 tons of plastics packaging waste was diverted from landfill in 2012. In total, 204 400 tons of packaging were recycled in 2012, (a 8.5% increase from the previous year), while the export of plastics packaging waste also increased by more than 51% (from 8 294 tons in 2011 to 12 532 tons in 2012).  Despite these good recovery rates, the total amount of plastics packaging in the waste stream is still increasing. 

Employment

It is estimated that 44 100 informal jobs were created during 2012 iNike Sportswear