9% more plastics diverted from landfill in 2014
A survey on the 2014 performance of the South African plastics industry has shown that 1.4-million tons of plastics from domestic production and imported materials were converted over the year, remaining flat on volumes seen in the prior year.
The results, released by Plastics SA this week, further revealed that the conversion rates – measured in tonnages – for certain types of plastics had increased, while others had decreased, owing to the impact of light-weighting plastics packaging, which had a marked increase on South Africa’s consumption rate.
Moreover, the impact of an industry-wide initiative to divert plastics from the country’s landfills had seen gains, with 315 600 t, or 22%, diverted from landfills in 2014 – a 9% improvement on the prior year.
Of this, 284 520 t, or 90.2%, were mechanically recycled in South Africa, while 31 087 t, or 9.8 %, were exported for recycling elsewhere.
“The tonnages exported from South Africa [for export] are causing some concerns among the domestic plastics recyclers,” said the organisation.
Despite improvements in diversion from landfill, the proportion of plastics recycled in South Africa had decreased from 97.6% in 2009 to 90.2% in 2014, with the majority of these plastics used locally to manufacture new products, such as packaging, building and industrial products and pipes.
Some 62.7% of all materials recycled originated from post-consumer sources, while 17.2% originated from post-industrial sources.
Meanwhile, the formal employment provided by plastics recycling increased by 34% year-on-year to 6 037 workers, while informal employment rose to 47 420 workers, bringing the total number of jobs sustained through plastics recycling to 53 457 – an increase of 11.4% since 2013.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
From batteries for boats and jet skis, to batteries for cars and quad bikes, SABAT Batteries has positioned itself as the lifestyle battery of...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
