South Africa’s plastics manufacturing and recycling industries grew by 4.7% last year, indicating a welcome recovery from the devastation caused by the Covid pandemic.

Plastics SA’s Executive Director, Anton Hanekom, announced the latest production and recycling figures for the fiscal year ending December 2021, revealing that 1 904 924 tons of polymer were converted into new plastics products this year.

“This is the total amount of polymers produced locally, net imported polymers, and recycled polymers sold locally by converters. Locally recycled polymer made up 21.7% of virgin consumption, up from 20.6% in 2020. This growth is consistent with the country’s 4.9% growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the same period,” Anton says.

The polymer consumption in South Africa is calculated using both locally produced virgin tonnages and imported/exported polymers as recorded by the South African Revenue Services (SARS). Plastics recyclers who sell their recyclate into the local market provide data on recycled polymer consumption. Domestic polymer consumption is limited to polymers that have been locally converted into plastics and semi-finished products.