SAPPMA is the latest plastics industry association to sign the OCS Pledge
The Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufactures Association (SAPPMA) has become the latest plastics industry association in South Africa to sign the Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS) pledge – an international stewardship programme designed to prevent the loss of plastic resin (pellets, flakes, and powders) and ensure that this material is kept out of the marine environment.
SAPPMA currently represents more than 80 % of the plastic pipe manufacturers in South Africa. CEO Jan Venter signed the declaration on behalf of SAPPMA earlier this week, saying that it was important for the plastic industry to be committed to safe and responsible manufacturing processes. Other local signatories of the pledge include Polyoak Packaging, Berry Astrapak, Sasol, Safripol, Tufflex as well as the various plastics Producer Responsibility Organisations, e.g. PETCO, Polyco, the Southern African Vinyls Association and Polystyrene Association of SA.
“We will be encouraging our members to sign the OCS pledge in their own personal capacities, but from SAPPMA’s side we wanted to go on record with our commitment to prevent pellet loss,” Venter said.
He added that SAPPMA will be facilitating information sessions between Plastics SA (the official licensee of OCS in SA) and their members during the next few months. During these sessions, Plastics SA Sustainability Director, Douw Steyn, will be explaining the OCS implementation plan and the detailed toolkit that has been developed to assist companies to develop safe and environmentally responsible manufacturing processes and daily operations.
Preventing resin loss not only makes sense from an environmental point of view, but it also makes financial sense and supports our drive to world-class quality management systems and adhering to international and local standards of excellence,” he added.
Welcoming SAPPMA as the latest industry body to come onboard, Douw Steyn, Sustainability Director at Plastics SA said: “It is encouraging to see yet another major player in our industry take such a bold step in the prevention of plastic leakage into our country’s waterways, estuaries and eventually the ocean. These small pieces of plastics can easily be mistaken for food by birds or marine animals. We look forward to engaging with the SAPPMA members and guiding them to the point of them signing the pledge for their own companies”.
For more information, visit www.sappma.co.za or www.plasticsinfo.co.za
A Recycling success story about lightweight concrete blocks!
The biggest success for polystyrene recycling in recent months has undoubtedly come from this innovative and exciting new use and application that mixes an aggregate of post-consumer and post-industrial polystyrene granulated into beads with cement and additives to form insulated, soundproof, fireproof, water-resistant lightweight concrete blocks and screeds.
Step 1: PS recycling Video
Step 2: From waste to bricks
Step 3: Bricks being loaded for delivery to another successful housing project!
For more information visit www.polystyrenesa.co.za
Do you re-use your PP? Research reveals all
Research has highlighted that a significant proportion of consumers re-use margarine, large yoghurt, and ice-cream tubs made from polypropylene (PP), extending their lifespan and keeping these products out of landfill. Led by the Polyolefin Responsibility Organisation NPC (Polyco), the ‘PP tub re-use research’ aims to guide a higher-level of repurposing for these plastic packaging items by improving their design, for re-use and recyclability.
“Polyco understands the value in research-based credible information. We initiated the research with The Moss Group to determine the extent to which margarine, ice-cream and large yoghurt tubs are re-used after their original use,” says Mandy Naudé, CEO at Polyco. “We wanted to look at this market sector and understand how much of this PP packaging material is placed on the market, how much is recycled, how much is landfilled; then calculate what percentage of these tubs are re-used in households.”
To collect this consumer data, 1550 respondents were engaged telephonically, via online surveys, face to face interviews and social media polls to get feedback on what they do with large yoghurt tubs, margarine tubs, and ice cream tubs. “More than 80% of respondents that participated in the research indicated that they repurposed these plastic tubs, most commonly for food storage, food distribution and household storage” says Naudé.
At least 103 million large yoghurt tubs, 80 million margarine tubs and 31 million ice-cream tubs are produced each year in South Africa, equating to an average of more than 10 000 tonnes of this plastic packaging entering the market. The high repurposing rate results in lower volumes of PP plastic tubs entering landfill or landing up in the natural environment.
Available beach litter data, collected around the country in 2019 and 2020 and provided by a team led by Professor Peter Ryan (UCT) and Dr Maelle Connan (NMU), supports this and indicates that these tubs make up around 3% of the 12 378 bottles and tubs catalogued.
“Supporting the efforts of our PP tub research, we will use these results to guide PP packaging producers and their customers to improve the design of tubs for repurposing,” says Naudé. “Design adjustments such as increasing the strength, improving the lid fit, and having removable labels will lead consumers to use these items as storage containers for longer.”
While the re-use rate of these PP tubs is high, the recycling rate of PP plastic products is approximately 30%. Re-using PP tubs for storage is a temporary solution and eventually these products will need to be disposed of. PP plastic tubs should be designed for circularity, not to be landfilled. Designing products for post-consumer recyclability has now been made a requirement by government.
“This consumer insight research has allowed us to understand what drives the re-use behaviour, which will be very important for brand owners, who under EPR regulations will be required to manage their products at end-of-life to prevent them going to landfill.” New extended-producer responsibility (EPR) regulations are now requiring producers to take responsibility for their products to ensure that consumers can re-use and repurpose products and then recycle them with greater ease.
Driving the market for PP recyclate, designing products for recyclability, creating accessible recycling facilities and increased consumer awareness will increase the recycling rates of these products and lower the volumes of plastic going to landfill.
To find out more about the PP tub research and Polyco, visit their website www.polyco.co.za