SUSTAINABILITY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Local investment firm Tabono Investments has signed a partnership agreement with battery recycling platform ACE Green Recycling to build two environmentally sustainable battery recycling facilities in South Africa.

Through this joint venture (JV), the companies aim to bring radical change to the management of South Africa’s battery waste. According to the companies, the green energy facilities will separately process and recycle lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries, utilising ACE’s proprietary technology that creates zero scope-one emissions by operating without fossil-fuel-based heating. Both recycling facilities will be greenfield projects to be developed and operated through the joint venture. Under the new structure, ACE will own 51% of the recycling facilities and Tabono will own 49%, according to the companies.

“Green energy is on the rise in South Africa and, with it, lead-acid and lithium-ion battery usage,” says Liran Assness, co-founder at Tabono.

Members of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) joined delegates in Punta Del Este, Uruguay, late last year for the first meeting of the International Negotiation Committee (INC-1), which is charged with creating a global agreement on plastics.

ICCA remains supportive of a legally binding agreement to eliminate plastic waste in the environment and is optimistic of the direction of negotiations towards achieving this goal as INC-1 concludes. Several common themes and desired actions emerged from the INC-1 meeting. Specifically:

• scaling up a circular economy for plastics, where used plastics are captured and remade into new plastics

• designing products for circularity

• enabling partnerships between the private sector and governments to unlock financing to improve waste management, which serves as the foundation of a circular economy

• enhancing transparency on chemical additives.

ICCA and plastics producers support these actions and remain constructively engaged to advance solutions, provide industry data where appropriate, and foster a bold agreement that helps eliminate plastic waste in the environment.

Plastics producers around the globe are already transitioning towards a circular economy by investing billions in recycling infrastructure and designing plastic products for increased recycling.

In an increased effort to drive the collection and recycling of liquid board packaging (LBP) in South Africa, Tetra Pak South Africa has joined the PET Recycling Company NPC (PETCO), a wellestablished producer responsibility organisation.

Tetra Pak’s membership commenced on 1 January 2023.

The decision for Tetra Pak to join PETCO was driven by the need for greater collaboration to improve the collection and recycling of LBP in South Africa.

As the first member to join PETCO’s LBP EPR scheme, Tetra Pak South Africa is taking an exciting first step with this new partnership with PETCO. In time, the expectation is that other LBP converters and brand owners will join this scheme for a greater impact.

This global agreement presents a significant opportunity to accelerate those efforts by fostering public-private partnerships, aligning private investment with country goals and actions, and reducing barriers to technology and expertise necessary for an equitable transition to circularity.

Ener-G-Africa, a multifaceted African company tackling climate change challenges, has launched its new woman-led solar panel assembly plant in Cape Town. The new solar PV assembly plant is housed on the energy company’s premises in Ndabeni.

Ener-G-Africa is an African company tackling the challenges of climate change through research, development and the manufacturing of clean energy products. The company has two manufacturing facilities – one in Cape Town and another in Lilongwe, Malawi. Starting as a wholesale solar company in Malawi in 2017, it has been producing biomass stoves since 2018 to provide a cleaner and healthier option for rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

The company’s intention with this new facility is to focus on making smaller solar panels to serve low-income households across subSaharan Africa.

Run by an all-female team, the R26 million plant, with a maximum capacity of 15 MW per annum, can produce some 20 000 solar panels each month, has created 53 jobs and will operate 24 hours a day, five days a week.

Regarding the plant demographics, Andre Moolman, CEO, Ener-G-Africa, says that because most factory workers across sectors are predominantly male, his company wanted to provide this employment opportunity to women from previously disadvantaged communities.