• 10 projects to receive funding support of just under R4 million 
• An additional 16 000 tonnes of post-consumer polyolefins will be collected over the next 3 years
• Potential for 340 new employment opportunities

The Polyolefin Recycling Company of South Africa, has announced the names of the 10 successful applicants who will receive support funding for their projects that will have a direct impact on the growth of separation, collection and sorting of post-consumer polyolefins (i.e. plastics packaging that bears the polymer identification codes 2, 4 or 5).

The Evaluation Process Explained
“We received a total of 56 applications for support following our first Call for Proposals that went out on the 23rd of March this year,” says Mandy Naudé, Chief Executive Officer of POLYCO.  “Each one of these submissions was carefully evaluated against the funding support criteria, and a short-list of 10 applicants was recommended by the Project Evaluation Committee to the POLYCO Board for approval,” Naudé says.

The final step in the process saw POLYCO visiting each of the short-listed applicants at their premises, where a further in-depth review was conducted to gain additional information and to understand their businesses better. Thereafter, the Project Evaluation Committee reviewed the feedback from all 10 applicants and rated them against the agreed criteria, some of which included: source of the waste, volume growth, employment opportunities created, location - waste hotspot or not, and rand per tonne investment effectiveness.

The proposed funding support for each short-listed applicant was presented to the POLYCO Board on the 15th July 2014, and total funding support for just under R4 million was unanimously approved.

“We are thrilled with the final list of successful applicants who are our newest POLYCO partners. These support projects cover all the key geographical areas in South Africa and will generate an additional 16 000 tonnes of post-consumer polyolefin collections over the next 3 years, as well as create 340 potential new employment opportunities in the Industry. The POLYCO funding business model is starting to build momentum and make a positive impact on the Recycling value chain,” concludes Naudé.