Municipalities need to lift their waste game

Environmental pollution poses one of the greatest threats to all forms of life on the planet. IMIESA speaks to Douw Steyn, director: Sustainability at Plastics SA, about the organisation’s role in promoting responsible waste management and recycling.

Douw Steyn, director: Sustainability at Plastics SA

How is Plastics SA contributing to urban sustainability?

DS Sustainability is one of the pillars of Plastics SA. We support and contribute to resource efficiency activities for our industry that impact aspects such as energy use, water usage and air quality. We also facilitate numerous projects such as recycling initiatives and clean-up campaigns for entrepreneurs and communities. Education and training initiatives form an important component.

Is a ban on single-use plastics one of the solutions?

No, there is no ‘silver bullet’ that will solve South Africa’s waste crisis. Banning singleuse plastics is, in our opinion, not the right approach to follow, although we do agree that we need to eliminate all unnecessary packaging (regardless of the material) and to reuse where possible.

When used and disposed of responsibly, plastics have a major role to play in ensuring a more sustainable world. Unfortunately, South Africa’s current waste collection and recycling system is broken: 34% of households in South Africa still do not have access to formal waste collection, while 64% of recyclables still come from landfill and other post-consumer sources. In other words, there’s little to no formal separation-at-source.

As a result, waste that could have been collected and recycled is either sent to landfill or ends up in the environment, where it becomes dirty and contaminated. Recyclers therefore have to invest in expensive wash plants to clean the material collected.

Communities must become more serious about diverting waste from landfill and allow recyclers access to post-consumer waste streams if we are to improve our recycling rates and grow our circular economies. Our European counterparts have shown us that this is only possible if recyclables are removed from the waste stream as early as possible to ensure they retain their value.

We need an effective separation-atsource system across South Africa in all municipalities to prevent valuable waste from being sent to landfill or, worse yet, ending up in our rivers or oceans because there is no effective waste management system in place.

How is the EPR implementation progressing?

We believe that government’s introduction of mandatory extended producer responsibility (EPR) under Section 18 of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act (No. 59 of 2008), which came into effect in South Africa on 5 May 2021, is a major step forward in the right direction.

EPR means that producers of packaged goods are responsible for not only health and safety issues associated with their products, but also the management of their post-consumer packaging waste, including collection, sorting and recycling. These policy objectives include changes for both upstream (e.g. design for recycling) and downstream (e.g. plans for increased collection and higher overall rates of recycling) aspects, which we are optimistic will soon begin to bear fruit in South Africa and have a significant impact on the amount of packaging waste that is collected and effectively recycled.

It will therefore definitely have a positive impact on sustainability, as more funding will be generated to address plastics collection, improve sorting (where recycling facilities are already in place) and introduce separation-at-source mechanisms. This will result in cleaner and bigger volumes of recyclables that will be collected, as well as growing awareness about the correct way to dispose of waste

(and the importance of recycling), thanks to more funds that will be made available for consumer education.

Another benefit of the new Section 18 EPR is that it makes a concerted effort to integrate waste pickers into a working and shorter recycling chain. Producer responsibility organisations (PROs) must produce an interim performance report by the end of July 2022, specifically around waste minimisation targets (%), and compensate waste collectors, reclaimers or pickers for the environmental service they provide. This must be implemented by November 2022.

Can the industry make greater use of recycled plastics for green building projects?

Yes. There are already numerous building and construction applications that use recycled plastics with great success, such as lightweight concrete bricks, pavers and screeds that are made from recycled polystyrene.

The Green Building Council South Africa has introduced a special Green Star materials category, which gives special credits for building materials that are reused, or where recyclable materials are specified.

Are MRFs taking off within our metros?

There are various collection systems such as buy-back centres that are found all over South Africa. There are some MRFs (materials recovery facilities) in the larger metros – the largest currently being in Cape Town. To ensure their ongoing viability, however, it is vital for municipalities around the country to introduce mechanisms for separation-at-source to ensure a consistent, commercially viable supply of recyclable materials, as well as better quality and bigger volumes of plastics.

By 2027, all domestic solid waste will be banned from going to landfills in South Africa. Are municipalities prepared?

Thanks to developments such as the new Section 18 EPR, the plastics and packaging industry is in a better position to handle this challenge than most local government operations. As mentioned earlier, the funds generated from the EPR process will allow us to invest in developing new recycling and collection mechanisms, technologies and the development of new end-of-life solutions for materials. The challenge lies in getting access to goodquality materials on a consistent basis.

What can Plastics SA do to change consumer behaviour when it comes to littering and recycling?

We have launched various national and regional education/awareness campaigns that are continuing on an annual basis, such as our annual Clean-up and Recycle SA Week, International Coastal Clean-Up Day, National Recycling Day, plus various beach and community clean-ups taking place throughout the year.

We also actively participate in Water Week, World Environment Week and World Oceans Day by supporting NGOs and communities with clean-ups and providing bags and other resources to coordinators. Plastics SA continues to work in close collaboration with national and provincial government, municipalities and environmental NGOs who have various activities aimed at educating consumers not to litter, the importance of recycling, the correct disposal of waste, and the value of creating a circular economy. For more information, visit our dedicated website at www.cleanupandrecycle.co.za.

And in closing?

The reality is that if we do not fix the ‘broken waste management system’ in South Africa, all other efforts will be less effective and even wasteful and fruitless activities. We can have the best redesigned product that is 100% recyclable; however, if it is not separated at household level and moved to a central place where it can be sorted for recycling, then (with the current system) it will just end up in a landfill or the environment. We need to stop cherry-picking and collect all waste to combat pollution.

Community participation and education are crucial to combat plastic pollution and promote recycling and reuse

Beach clean-up operations in Durban