World trends and recycling figures around Africa:
Did you know? When it comes to individual households, Western Cape has the highest percentage (20%) of urban households that sort waste for recycling, followed by Gauteng at 12%. South Africa recycles over 70% of used steel beverage cans, while the rates for glass are 42% and plastic packaging 30%. The country sends around 95 million tons of waste to its 826 landfill sites and less than 40% of the materials are recycled.
About 80 000 waste pickers in South Africa earn an income collecting about 90% of the plastic waste in South Africa, comprising a recycling rate of 45% of our local plastics production. This feeds into about 300 formal recycling companies, or processors, in the country.
As few as 7% of South African households recycle. Globally, we are producing around 400 million tons of plastic per year, which amounts to a billion kilograms a day. In South Africa, plastics production is just short of 2 million tons, less than 0.5% of global production. Globally, the recycling rate for plastic packaging is 14%.
PI CT UR E HE R ME S RI VE R A / UN SP LA SH
South Africa recycles around 67% of all PET bottles produced – this figure was 55% in 2016.
THE POPULATION of sub-Saharan Africa was around 1 billion as of 2019 and the amount of generated waste 180 million tons at the rate of 0.5% a person a day. The amount that is openly dumped is 70% and the plastic waste generated annually is 17 million tons. Plastics recycling is a growing sector and South Africa is a leader in mechanical recycling. 1 9
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