‘Recycling is everyone’s responsibility’
“Community members brought their recyclable items to the collecting point and a lot of rubble were collected. Feedback from the community was very positive and they want to continue to recycle more frequently.”
The Eldoraigne community members took part in a recycling project on Saturday.
Anton Joubert, member of Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) said rubble was collected from the corner of Willem Botha Drive and Mulders Mile.
“Community members brought their recyclable items to the collecting point and a lot of rubble was collected. There were black bags, refuse bins and open boots with everything from bottles, paper, computers and light bulbs.
“Feedback from the community was very positive and they want to continue to recycle more frequently. A cleaner today for a better tomorrow,” said Joubert.
“South Africa’s waste management industry is currently worth around R25-billion new market data suggests. The nation recycles over 70% of used steel beverage cans while the rates for glass and plastic packaging are 42% and 30% respectively.
“The country uses around 95-million tonnes of waste to fill its 826 landfill sites and less than 40% of the materials are recycled. According to analysts at Research and Markets, the nation additionally produces upwards of 65 million tonnes of hazardous waste, of which only 6% is recycled.”
He said plastics recycling in South Africa “continues to grow with more than 330 700 tonnes recycled annually”.
In fact, Joubert said, the average recycling rate for plastics exceeds 43%, which the analysts noted was higher than the 31% figure for Europe.
“There are more than 4 000 glass collection points in South Africa which is home to 32 dedicated Collect-A-Can companies.
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These jointly collect 72% of all beverage cans and recovered more than 75% of all metal packaging last year.
“Meanwhile, South Africa generates approximately 350 000 tonnes of electronic scrap annually of which only about 35 000 tonnes are recycled.”
Joubert said the initiative will be expanded to other areas in Eldoraigne and Centurion on a monthly basis, adding “there is a big demand for recycling”.
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