In a world where overproduction and overconsumption are normalised, waste has become a social and environmental concern. One of challenges is the lack of landfill capacity in South Africa. GreenCape’s latest study found that 22 out of 25 of the municipalities in the Western Cape have fewer than five years of landfill airspace – the volume of space on a landfill site permitted for disposal of municipal solid waste – left before they have to close.
What will happen when we do run out of landfill? Where will the waste go? Before we reach this point, we need to create a culture of effective sorting and recycling to reduce the waste we produce. The long-term solution is a systemic shift towards a circular economy. This means challenging the current take-make-waste economic model by designing out waste and pollution, keeping products in use and seeking to regenerate natural systems.
The next challenge is to shift towards a circular economy. Luckily, this is already happening. There are countless stories of everyday heroes who are creating tangible solutions, with positive socio-environmental impacts. The annual PETCO Awards highlights grassroots changemakers championing the shift from a linear take-make-waste economic system to a circular one.
PETCO is a South African producer responsibility organisation (PRO) whose main responsibility is facilitating the collection and recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles. According to PETCO CEO, Cheri Scholtz, “The PET recycling sector has an important role to play in contributing to the transformation of the South African economy. Few issues are more important.”
The PETCO Awards is the premier national environmental awards initiative in South Africa, recognising excellence in reuse, recycling, and waste minimisation among businesses, organisations, community groups, and individuals within the South African plastic industry.
Winners are recognised for embracing extended producer responsibility, contributing to driving plastic recycling, and reflecting the principles of sustainability, the circular economy, and small, medium and micro enterprises development, and the advancement of women in the value chain.
This year, nine individuals and organisations were recognised for their innovative and impactful work in recycling, an expanding industry that is creating income opportunities while ensuring that valuable recyclable materials stay out of the environment and re-enter the value chain.
Jointly recognised as winners in the Best Community Recycling Initiative category were Litter4tokens and Umphakathi Recyclers. “For us, it’s about understanding that waste has an alternative use. It doesn’t have to go to landfill, it doesn’t have to be dumped and it doesn’t have to pollute the environment,” says Sue Benningfield, the Litter4tokens area manager for KwaDukuza in KwaZulu-Natal.
Litter4tokens has branches across the country and gives waste collectors tokens that they can redeem for household necessities and food in return for recyclable materials. About 1 230 families benefit from the programme each month.
Worth in Your Waste category winner, the Zonda Insila Programme (ZIP) in Mpumalanga, has shown extraordinary ingenuity in turning plastic and other recyclables into a chain of self-sustaining businesses. Provincial ZIP coordinator, Linah Duduzile Ndala, says:
To say waste trash is outdated. Waste is not trash, it is a crucial part of the economy.
“The role of stakeholders like municipalities and the province is very important – they need to take the lead, because there is a lot of rubbish out there and much of it is an income for someone,” Linah says.
The Recycling Partnership Gamechanger Award was jointly won by Safripol and Masekhethele. Safripol is a South African polymer producer that has implemented numerous impactful sustainability projects to advance waste collection and recycling in the country. Masekhethele, a joint venture between Siyavuma Foundation and Thinavhuuo Recycling, supports and celebrates women waste pickers who source recyclables that are then transformed into high-quality products by sewing groups, entrepreneurs, and woman sewers from Phalaborwa.
“We’ve realised in the process of implementing our sustainability strategy that partnerships are a key enabler. Without strategic partners, we can’t achieve any of our sustainable development goals,” said Safripol Sustainability Manager, Avashnee Chetty. Willie Ramoshaba, the founder of Thinavhuuo Recycling, adds:
The real champions are those men and women on the ground, picking up that PET material.
To further illustrate and celebrate the work of these environmental heroes and nine award winners, and to help visualise their impact on people and the planet, PETCO produced a six-part docu-series – called Message in a Bottle – that tells the story of what happens to a PET bottle once it is recycled. Following a nationwide recycling road trip from Mahikeng to Phalaborwa, from Umlazi to Rosebank, the series was hosted by actress Lindiwe Dim and directed by acclaimed actor and filmmaker, Louw Venter. The series was produced by Pretty Neat, with creative direction by Livio Tronchin of Derrick Agency.
The compelling journeys of passionate recycling champions from across the country make one thing clear: positive change, and creating a future where everyone prospers, starts with each one of us. The determination, commitment to community, and innovative spirits of each of the nine award winners is a testament to this.
Continuing the legacy of the 2022 Awards, next year’s PETCO Awards are now open for nominations and aim to celebrate the innovations, entrepreneurial spirit, partnerships, and game-changing initiatives led by some of SA’s most enterprising individuals, SMMEs, large corporations, and municipalities.
For the 2023 PETCO Awards, there are 11 categories:
1. Environmental Education and Awareness initiative: This category looks to recognise initiatives led by individuals or organisations that stimulate innovative ideas that increase recycling and waste management, and those public-facing campaigns that have successfully addressed a recycling challenge.
2. Best Community Recycling Initiative: This category recognises an individual or organisation whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful business ventures or community projects in the PET collection or recycling industry that directly benefit and uplift the communities within which they operate.
3. Design for Circularity: This category celebrates products that exemplify the best of sustainability and have been designed with careful consideration of resources in mind. As such, those products that incorporate recycled PET content, or that have improved the products’ compatibility with recycling infrastructure in South Africa will be considered. Factors such as reusability, end-of-life solutions, waste minimisation, closed-loop processes etc. will be taken into account. This category not only recognises PET products themselves but looks for innovations when it comes to closures and labels.
4. PET-repreneur: This category recognises a man, woman, or other individual whose entrepreneurial insight, ingenuity, and perseverance have created and sustained a successful, growing business venture in the PET collection or recycling industry.
5. Local Authority Recycling Innovation: This category recognises the importance of partnerships with municipalities, government, and local authorities in addressing waste reduction behaviour and helping to extract and capture value from resources that would be otherwise lost.
6. Recycling Partnership Gamechanger: This category recognises partnerships, including government (municipal, provincial or national), regulatory agencies, community organisations, and private industry, that have successfully implemented game-changing initiatives, policies , or programmes that advance recycling and sustainability in South Africa.
7. Top Woman in Collection and Recycling: This category recognises the importance of women in leadership, specifically within the recycling sector in South Africa, and aims to grow the number of women role models in the sector for future leaders.
8. Waste Reduction Youth Warrior: PETCO’s vision is that capacitated, empowered consumers to know about PET and know that it is recyclable and safe to use; they understand the potential and value of PET and recycled PET (rPET); they use their influence to drive positive recycling behaviour through recognising well-designed products. This category recognises specifically the role of youth in achieving this vision in South Africa, passionately doing what many adults can’t or won’t.
9. Excellence in Academia: This category recognises the importance of having peer-reviewed research underpinning any strategic interventions in the broad areas of recycling, waste minimisation and/or sustainability.
10. Media Spotlight: This category recognises a journalist, media personality or influencer that has made an outstanding contribution to the awareness and understanding amongst South African consumers of issues of waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. This category recognises the power of the media and how, if used for good, it can have far-reaching positive influences.
11.Worth in your Waste: This category recognises one specific reclaimer or a group of reclaimers who have gone above and beyond to keep South Africa clean and keep valuable recyclable materials out of landfills whilst making a living for themselves. This person or group will also have worked to change the negative stigma and perception that many people have about reclaimers.
The PETCO Awards are free to enter, and we welcome entries from both small and large organisations, businesses, community groups, and individuals all over South Africa.
- The Awards will be presented at PETCO’s next AGM in June 2023. To learn more about the Award categories, click here. For the nomination form, click here. Nomination forms and supporting documents should be emailed to petconews@petco.co.za.
- The deadline for submission of nominations is Friday 6 January 2023, 17:00.
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- PETCO is a key partner for the Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards 2022
- Images supplied by Kara Levy
