Industry-managed Waste Management Plan

114 The plastics and packaging industries of South Africa, represented by Packaging SA and Plastics SA, recently welcomed the announcement made by Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) to scrap the existing Section 28 plan for developing an Industry Waste Management Plan (IndWMP) for the paper and packaging industry.

Shabeer Jhetam

This is of significance to the building industry, where large amounts of packaging and other plastic waste are often left unattended, or dumped in an irresponsible way.

Industry to manage the plan Although the development of this plan has already been more than three years in the making, Minister Creecy announced in December that she would be starting an entirely new process under Section 18, as this would allow for an industry-managed plan as opposed to a government-managed plan.

Admitting that the Minister’s announcement came as a surprise, Shabeer Jhetam, Executive Director of Packaging SA, said that they welcomed the Minister’s insight and decision.

‘We believe the Minister has made the right decision. Through our engagements with her over the past few months, we were able to introduce her to the excellent work done by the various packaging streams through their various Producer Responsibility Organisations, including Polyco (Polyolefin material), PETCO (Polyethylene terephthalate – PET), The Glass Recycling Company (glass packaging) MetPac-SA (Metal packaging) Polystyrene Association of South Africa (High Impact and Expanded Polystyrene) South African Vinyls Association (vinyl products) and the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (paper products).

‘These organisations are all industry-funded and managed and are focussed on growing the collection and recycling of the various packaging streams in order to demonstrate their members’ commitment to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). As a result of

volume 10 | issue 1 www.tobuild.co.za their consistent and concerted efforts South Africa has managed to grow its recycling figures on a yearly basis over the past 10 years to become one of the world leaders in mechanical recycling.

‘We are sending less material to landfill thanks to light weighting and progress in developing a circular economy for each industry. A government-managed plan would have had the potential of nullifying these achievements and making it more difficult for these organisations to access the funds needed to fulfil their mandates,” Jhetam says.

Industry responds Commenting on behalf of the plastics industry, Plastics|SA’s Executive Director Anton Hanekom said they too were relieved to learn of the Minister’s decision to develop a new plan under Section 18 of the Waste Management Act, in close consultation with industry representatives.

‘We have always advocated for an industry-managed plan where the producers of packaging materials are held responsible for managing their waste through belonging to industry bodies that represent their interests and drive their own recycling and collection efforts. The failure of previous initiatives such as Buyisa e-Bag and Redisa triggered serious warning bells for us and highlighted the need for proper governance, transparency and credibility. ‘We cannot afford to gamble with the future of our environment and need a plan that will allow us to use collection and recycling mechanisms that have already been put into place and have proven to be successful. I am confident that this new approach will best serve the interests of the country, the environment and the industry,’ says Hanekom.

Ecobricks at the V&A Waterfront project

Interestingly, industry is responding to the plastic crisis (See A Material World To Build Vol 9 Issue3) A significant construction project currently underway at the Cape Town V&A Waterfront, has announced its use of 12 000 ‘ecobricks’ in its new commercial development eco-project, called The Ridge.

At The Ridge in the Portswood District of the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, planners have found an innovative means of removing PET waste from landfill by reusing it inside concrete flooring on site. It also reduces the use of virgin EPS-based void forming shapes.

In addition, thousands of plastic and plastic foil packets from consumables such as potato chips, chocolate wrappers, cling wrap and shopping bags are used as stuffing inside the PET bottles and bottles and removed from waste.

The Ridge project will consume an unbelievable 12 000 ecobricks, each displacing 2 litres of concrete. All bottles underwent a quality control process once on site as undertaken by the main contractor’s team. This innovation, according to the recycling experts, is a potential world-first for a commercial project of this nature.

At an average density of concrete being 2.4kg/litre for Portland Cement Concrete (PCC), this equates to a displacement of 57 600kg (or 57 tons) of concrete in the absence of any other void forming material being used. The material, cost-saving and environmental benefit of this programme is significant. ‘Ecobricks are essentially “time capsules” which can be re-used by future generations, when new technologies become available and they have finished their current purpose of sequestering tons of plastic waste from landfill, saving megatons of CO2 pollution,’ says Mark Noble, the Development Director at the V&A Waterfront.

Above: Ecobrick planters for charity food garden – V&A Waterfront.

Right: Johan Bosch and Fuzile Ntsume – both GVK.

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