Nabilah Safira
TechInAfrica – The latest statistics show how South Africa is recycling more plastic waste than before, as the country has been creating serious strides towards plastics management and elimination.
More than 519,370 tons of wastes were collected for recycling in 2018, which was enough to save up the oil for fueling 200,000 cars a year and traveling 30,000 km/year, the new study from Plastics South Africa stated. The figure increased by 6.7% last year, saving 246,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
Not only decreasing the wastes, but the movement is also a source of direct jobs for over 7,800 people and supplied ZAR 2.3 billion toward the informal sector by the purchase of these recyclables.
Anton Hanekom, the Executive Director at Plastics SA, explained that the plastics industry have made important strides forward, despite facing major challenges last year. The plastic bags manufacturers removed fillers to produce full recyclable bags, and in addition to that, 100 percent of certified recycled plastic material is now used to produce various carrier bags, thus making the program a pathway for creating an end-market for recycled plastic products and also helping the reduction of wastes to the landfill.
Hanekom pointed that it becomes mutually beneficial for both the environment and the industry if the products produced become part of a circular economy, to which he added, “Recyclables are a valuable resource and should be removed from the solid waste stream before reaching landfills where they become contaminated and extraction costly.”
Stakeholders are also called to work together on the manufacture, process, and locally manage the end-of-life products for the consumer, industry, and planet to benefit from altogether. The current sector employs 60,000 people, as stated by Hanekom.
Immediately after banning the use of plastic bags, the usage dropped by 90%. The country was known to be Africa’s most industrialized, and the ban happened on an earlier note.
A new project emerges within this Cyril-Ramaphosa led country, which will realize the use of million tonnes of plastics bags. This also marks the beginning of Africa’s first plastic road construction which is under process in Kouga Municipality on the Eastern Cape. The road could utilize up to 1 million plastic bags per kilometer. The project will go a long way in contributing to plastics elimination, which would otherwise end up in the landfills.
Source: weetracker.com
