ON THE SPOT
GIULIETTA TALEVI: Consumers and industry need a mind shift to improve on admirable recycling rate
Plastics SA released some fascinating statistics this week, including that SA recycles more as a percentage of plastic waste produced than Europe, with recycling rates at just more than 43% compared with our northern peers’ 31%. Other figures are breathtaking too, but for the wrong reasons: about 12% of metros in SA don’t have any formal waste collection system at all, while only a fraction of households separate their rubbish, despite its contribution to both the formal and informal economy. Business Day asked Plastics SA executive director Anton Hanekom whether there was scope for more to be recycled. Yes and no. You will never be able to collect or recycle 100% of what’s put onto the market — the bumper of your car, for example, or your dashboard. But there is scope. Europe has set a target of 65% by 2025. We believe in terms of what’s possible and what’s available, 65% is [what] we’re aiming for in the next five years. Remember we only do mechanical recycling, we do not [produce...
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