FALSE BAY tise Adver your ducts, es, Pro Servic otions and Prom our Brand y r build greate in the e Bay Fals area
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TUESDAY 28 July 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
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People’s Post
ENVIRONMENT
Eco-activists see blue RACINE EDWARDES RACINE.EDWARDES@MEDIA24.COM @RAEEDWARDES
A
new blue plastic bottle has environmental experts talking – but not for the reasons you may think. The release of Clover’s new design milk bottles has prompted ocean activists and experts to launch the #BoycottTheBlueBottle campaign. According to experts, the blue colour of the bottle reduces its value, making it less likely to be collected by informal plastic collectors for recycling. The Pristine Earth Collective, a Cape Town-based organisation, collaborates with other organisations to accelerate practical solutions to environmental plastic waste, as well as advocate for policy and production amendments to address the same issue. George van der Schyff, director at the collective, says their campaign to boycott the blue bottle began within two weeks of it being brought to their attention. “Alongside The Litterboom Project, Sea the Bigger Picture and KZN Beach Clean Up, Hanno Langenhoven from Wild Trust and other members of the Plastics Civil Society SA.” Plastics Civil Society SA is a group of civil society organisations concerned about plastic pollution and how this affects both people and the planet. Sea the Bigger Picture, an environmental organisation operating mainly on the False Bay coast, hosts beach clean-up, educates the youth (especially on the Cape Flats) on environmental issues and takes on a range of other activities to protect the oceans. Co-founder Chris Krauss explains that blue plastic is less likely to be recycled. “Its colour is its downfall. Being blue it will not be readily recycled as its value is less due to its lack of versatility in the recycling process. White plastics can be used to make any colour plastic, but blue can only be used for blue plastic and black plastic. This limitation on its recycling options makes it approximately 30% less valuable.” This, he adds, is where the problem comes in. “Because South Africa’s recycling collection is mostly done by the informal sector (up to 95%), they prioritise the higher value plastics.”
When sorting through plastics – either from bins at homes or at a recycling centre – the plastic pickers are less likely to pick out the blue plastics. “The lower value of the bottle will mean they are less likely to be collected by pickers and recyclers, thus landing up in our rivers and, eventually, our oceans,” says Van der Schyff. Krauss adds: “The Litterboom Project in Durban is already finding these blue bottles on the banks of the Palmiet River in Durban. The blue bottle has a direct negative environmental impact and, therefore, needs to be stopped. We are not asking Clover to stop using high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for its milk bottles, but to go back to the white HDPE.” He and the Plastics Civil Society believe “Clover has created a big blue environmental failure”, as is stated in many posts on Facebook and other social media platforms. “The irony is the blue bottles do their job of sticking out. You spot them first when cleaning up a polluted river or beach. Because no one else does blue, they stick out; not the public image you want for a product in my opinion,” Krauss says. In a statement – titled “Committed to being way better in every way” – released to the media, Clover said the move to blue was to “refine” their brand and “re-find” their corporate identity. “How we did this was to start with a new strong blue colour coding on the shelf as well as the implementation of the new Clover corporate identity,” the statement read. But Van der Schyff says: “If sustainability was truly part of Clover’s ‘Way Better’ approach, they would have used this redesign as an opportunity to improve their product’s impact on the environment and set a muchneeded precedent for the food and beverage packaging industry going forward. “We hope that Clover and their counterparts consider this and come back with a product that lives up to these values thereby ensuring a cleaner environment for generations to come.” Plastics Civil Society SA wrote an open letter to Clover and are yet to receive any feedback or response from Clover. Clover had not yet responded to People’s Post’s request for comment by the time of going to print.
A picture posted by Hanno Langenhoven on Facebook of blue milk bottles found on the banks of the Palmiet River in Durban. PHOTO: HANNO LANGENHOVEN