The Glass Recycling Company (TGRC) has increased its recycling rate to 40.9%, which has meant that about 80% of glass a year does not reach landfills in South Africa.
The TGRC had increased its glass recycling rate from 18% in 2006, when the company was established, to 40.9% by the end of 2014, said TGRC CEO Shabeer Jhetam at the company’s Glass Dialogue event, held in Sandton last month.
He added that this was as the result of nurturing a recycling habit among all South Africans through communication and the creation of solid national glass-collection infrastructure.
The company promotes using returnable bottles, such as those used for liquor, for which a refund or deposit is given by any retailer upon returning the bottles.
Owing to this, Jhetam indicated, TGRC had one of the largest supplies of returnable bottles, which has led to a total of three-million tons of glass bottles a year. Moreover, less than one-million tons of the bottles is being newly produced in a market of three-million tons, owing to the returnable system.
To encourage South Africans to participate in the collection of glass bottles, TGRC provides glass banks at convenient locations to enable members of the public to drop off glass for recycling.
“Schools, shopping centres and service stations offer ideal sites for our glass banks and many success stories have emerged as a result of our strategic and targeted placement initiatives. To date, we have about 4 000 glass banks located in the country,” he explained.
TGRC was established as result of the collaboration between South Africa’s glass manufacturers and brand owners that package their products in glass, with the company also committed to uplifting South Africans by providing access to a source of income, predominantly for the unemployed, explained Jhetam.
Therefore, the company’s objective is to establish buy-back centres that will be owned by entrepreneurs across the country.
We aim to establish new glass-recycling entrepreneurs in urban and rural areas throughout the country; we also aim to provide business advice and assistance for them and provide the necessary glass-collection tools for new entrepreneurs to help ensure their success, he pointed out.