Packaging South Africa (PSA) has welcomed the Department of Environmental Affairs’ (DEA’s) acknowledgement that government has failed to develop competent waste management facilities and that municipalities are not able to implement waste removal infrastructure, nor exercise control over current pollution regulations.
PSA says one of its objectives is to ensure that minimal packaging and paper waste are sent to landfill through initiatives supporting materials reduction, recycling, recovery and other related activities.
The organisation, which represents packaging converters and associated companies, envisions zero packaging and paper waste going to landfill.
PSA supports the management of waste through a hierarchal approach, which is a recognised international model, offering a holistic approach and a systematic method for waste management that encompasses waste avoidance, reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery, treatment and safe disposal as a last resort.
In pursuit of this approach, PSA submitted its Extended Producer Responsibility Plan to the DEA early in September last year. This plan had a long-term vision, in line with the National Development Goals and global Sustainable Development Goals.
PSA said in a statement that the plan took cognisance of the global market forces that impacted on the local paper and packaging markets through raw material imports and ready-filled and unfilled packaging imports.
PSA executive director Shabeer Jhetam noted that, once the plan had been implemented, the target for collection/diversion rates for paper and packaging would increase to 66.9% within a five-year period, comparing forwardly with the European Union’s target of 65% for all paper and packaging by 2025.
In 2017, South Africa collected 43% of the glass tonnes manufactured, 75% of the metal, 65% of the paper and 45% of the plastic tonnes, equating to a conversion average of 57.1%.
“We need government to approve the plan, municipalities to have efficient implementation plans and every individual and household in South Africa to take greater responsibility for the packaging waste they generate,” Jhetam averred.