Six new members have joined the South African Plastics Pact (SA Plastics Pact), which demonstrates their commitment towards keeping plastics in the economy and out of the environment.
These members are consumer goods company RCL Foods, plastic manufacturer Berry Astrapack, plastic pallet manufacturer Palletplast, the African Reclaimers Organisation, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa and the African Circular Economy Network.
The SA Plastics Pact was launched in January and is managed by green economy nonprofit organisation GreenCape. The pact was developed by the World Wide Fund for Nature, in partnership with the South African Plastics Recycling Organisation and a British charity called Waste & Resources Action Programme.
SA Plastics Pact project lead Kirsten Barnes says a circular economy for plastic will be driven through collaboration. “Collective action across the plastics value chain drives this systemic change. We are excited to see the momentum building with new members signing up.”
The pact builds on positive work started by other initiatives and helps scale up and disseminate good practice more quickly.
The SA Plastics Pact wants to take action on problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or reuse delivery models.
The pact's aim is that eventually 100% of plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable, with 70% of plastic packaging being effectively recycled and plastic packaging having 30% average recycled content.