By Masale Manoko

South Africa’s waste challenge is no longer a distant environmental concern. It is a present-day infrastructure reality that no single organisation, policy framework or recycling target can resolve alone.

Policy is part of the answer. The Draft National Waste Management Strategy 2026 sets recycling targets and strengthens producer responsibility. But policy only delivers results when backed by partnerships that make collecting, sorting and recycling practically viable. For Tetra Pak, this is not simply a compliance question. It is an opportunity to help close the gaps that policy alone cannot fill.

Producers are directly linked to what happens to their products after use. Extended producer responsibility regulations make that explicit. But accountability without infrastructure produces little. The real work happens when producers, recyclers, municipalities and informal waste networks work as a connected system.

We have built that system. We work with Mpact Recycling on collections, and with Mpact Paper Springs Mill and Gayatri Paper Mills on recycling the fibre from our liquid board packaging. For PolyAl, the aluminium and plastic layers in our cartons, Infinite Industries converts it into boards and Cycliq converts pelletised PolyAl into products such as pallets. Unique Timber Plastics palletises and converts PolyAl into wood alternative planks that are used in furniture, construction and agricultural products. Together with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, we are developing new applications for PolyAl, including a roof tile that turns what was once considered waste into a construction material.

These partnerships are backed by more than R20 million investments in PolyAl processing infrastructure, and the results are measurable.

Against our 2030 recycling target of 40%, we have already reached this level in the first quarter of 2026, achieving a 40% collection rate against the DFFE target of 30% for liquid board packaging. We aim to sustain this performance for the remainder of the year.

Numbers only mean something if they can be verified. Independent audits and MapaSA, an internal value chain monitoring system, tracks our value chain in real time, giving us the data to demonstrate actual outcomes rather than make unverified claims. As regulations tighten, that transparency is not a nice-to-have.

None of this works without the people who move material every day. Informal waste pickers process a significant share of South Africa’s recycled materials, yet their contribution has never received the formal recognition it deserves. Our national waste picker campaign, launching this month, addresses this directly. The campaign positions used beverage cartons as a valuable material and gives waste pickers the knowledge to drive higher collection rates. Tetra Pak is committed to making sure that the crucial role waste pickers play is recognised. No circular economy will close without them.

The circular economy in Southern Africa will be built through partnerships, investment and honest measurement. That is where the real work lies.