Be proactive when

it comes to packaging waste

South Africa is a rapidly growing and developing country. Growth in our country’s population has led to an increased waste generation rate. With 59 million people, there is enormous pressure to reduce the amount of packaging waste that is either sent to our country’s landfills or ending up as visible litter in the environment.

As a pro-active response to the growing national concern around waste and its impact on society and the environment, South Africa recently published the Section 18 Regulations to the National Environmental Management: Waste Act on 5 November 2020, which refers to the Extended Producer Responsibility aspect of the National Environmental Management Waste Act (NEMWA). The regulations are now effective from 5 May 2021.

Instead of supporting the outdated, linear approach of producing, using and discarding valuable materials such as plastics, paper, glass and metals, our focus is now on developing circular economies within South Africa. The value of should never be lost, but kept within the economy by ensuring that these materials are diverted from landfill to be reused and recycled into many new and useful materials.

Through the updated Section 18 regulations of the Waste Act, all producers are now called upon to demonstrate their Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR.

EPR refers to the measures that extend a producer’s financial or physical responsibility for the product they make to the postconsumer stage, when the consumer is done with the product, and include, but is not limited to: • supporting and initiating waste minimisation and collection programmes, • financial arrangements for any fund that has been established to promote the reduction, re-use, recycling and recovery of waste; • awareness programmes to inform the public of how to recycle, why to choose welldesigned products, and what the potential impacts of product waste are on their health and that of the environment; and • any other measures to mitigate the potential impact of the product on human health and that of the environment.

Luckily, South Africa is well positioned for this next stage of environmental legislation as voluntary, EPR schemes for packaging have been running for many years now. There are several Producer Responsibility Organisations (or PROs) operating in South Africa who, between them, cover the different packaging streams, namely PETCO for PET, Polyco for polyolefins (PP, HDPE, LDPE/LLDPE and multi-layer), the Polystyrene Association for polystyrene, Southern African Vinyls Association for vinyl, The Glass Recycling Company for glass, Fibre Circle for paper and MetPac-SA for metal packaging.

Each of these PROs collect voluntary EPR fees from their members. However, this will become compulsory with implementation of the Section 18 EPR. The revenue generated, will be used to support the collection, sorting and recycling of recyclable materials by

South Africa recently published the Section 18 Regulations to the National Environmental Management: Waste Act on 5 November 2020, which refers to the Extended Producer Responsibility aspect of the National Environmental Management Waste Act (NEMWA). The regulations are now effective from 5 May 2021

informal waste pickers, small and mediumsized enterprises and large-scale mechanical recyclers. In addition, there is a strong focus on the development of new end-use markets to consume these recyclable materials, as well as on the education of consumers to make them aware that used packaging materials have value and can be recycled into a whole range of new and useful products.

The new Section 18 regulations is a welcome step forward towards a more collaborative approach between government and industry. As an industry, we are committed to continue working closely with government as this process unfolds.

These are some of the requirements for producers: • Existing producers to register with the

Department of Environment, Forestry and

Fisheries by 5 November 2021 (as per the amended EPR regulations released on 15

January 2021). • Be part of an EPR scheme that includes the entire value chain. • Be accountable for the operation and performance of an EPR scheme. • Pay the appropriate levy to the EPR scheme – payments and contracting by end 2021. • Fulfil monitoring and reporting obligations – to begin Q1 2022. • Implement labelling of packaging to indicate disposal information. •

Please take note of the following important dates and timeline: • End Q1 – Focus group to revise regulations for review (publication before 5 May) • 5 May 2021 – Effective date of regulations • 5 Nov 2021 – Revised date for final compliance with regulations.

Plastics|SA – www.plasticssa.co.za