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Celebrating Global Recycling Day Global Recycling Day presented an opportunity for Polyoak Packaging to explore the importance of recycling plastic packaging with its employees.
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olyoak hosted various internal workshops across its manufacturing sites in Diepriver, Aeroton, Roodekop, KwaZulu-Natal and East London to remind employees about the role of plastic packaging in a circular economy, and the relevance of separation at source to maximise recycling which helps create job opportunities, diverts valuable waste going to South Africa’s already overflowing landfills and helps prevent plastic pollution. “With Extended Producer Regulations coming into effect from 5 May 2021, we are fully committed to partnering with our customers to achieve the legislated recycling targets,” explained Karl Lambrecht, Polyoak’s managing director. Polyoak’s rigid plastic packaging is already widely recycled. For example, HDPE beverage bottles are the most recycled milk packaging in South Africa, with a recycling rate of 75%. These bottles are recycled into numerous useful items including new bottles for personal and home care products, crates, bins and plastic bags.
The company is well placed to advise customers on ‘Design for Recycling’ best practice. It is essential that plastic packaging is designed and adapted to give it the best chance of being circulated multiple times through our economy, by choosing materials that are widely recycled in practice and at scale in South Africa. The whole pack must be considered in terms of its recyclability, as even
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one component can limit or prohibit recycling of the whole pack. “Polyoak offers rigid plastic packaging that is already optimised for recycling. Furthermore, all our packaging carries accurate and legible material identification codes (MICs) required to assist collectors and recyclers,” says Lambrecht. Designing for recycling is also essential to create high quality feedstocks which can be included as recycled content in new packaging. It offers bottles containing recycled PET (rPET) and, provided there is a sufficient supply of rPET, the company is well placed to assist customers in meeting the legislated recycled content target of 10% for PET beverage bottles in year one, as well as the SA Plastics Pact target of 30% by 2025. The business is excited about its new Tight Head Drum range made from virgin and recycled HDPE, available in sizes ranging from 100L up
