Recycling the recycling industry could lead to major job losses
SA’s recycling industry is a huge success even by international standards, writes Hugh Tyrrell, so changing it could be disastrous
Major change is on the cards for the South African recycling industry. Following the department of environmental affairs call, the paper and packaging industry has submitted five-year plans on how they will take extended producer responsibility (EPR) for the end-use of their products, and how they intend to address transformation of the industry at the same time. The department, meanwhile, is empowered by the National Environmental Management Waste Act of 2008 to introduce a tax on waste-generators, which it is seriously considering. This tax would profoundly affect the wider recycling industry, and especially the producer responsibility organisations (PROs). These organisations, such as The Glass Recycling Association, Petco, Polyco, The Paper Recycling Association of SA/Pamsa, Collect-a-Can and others, were established by the raw material producers, reprocessors and brand owners, which pay a regular levy to their PROs to support and promote the recycling of their respective materi...
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