MechChem Africa July-August 2021

Unique recycling project gains national traction The successful PETCO Separation at Source programme to improve municipal waste management and boost the green economy has begun to be rolled out nationwide. A UNIQUE programme aimed at up - ping collection and recycling rates, boosting green economy jobs and diverting waste from landfills has platform scale, signage and a trailer with a 6.0 m 3 volume.

next year. The 35-strong ambassador group comprises mostly unemployed graduates from disciplines including IT, public adminis- tration, speech and drama, conservation and agriculture. Londi Mbuyisa, who established Isphepho in 2018, says she was inspired to do so after founding another community en- gagement project in 2016. The organisation is self-funded byMbuyisa, a senior lecturer in the Department of Nature Conservation at Mangosuthu University of Technology. Not one of the team earns a salary. “The awareness and participation in recy - cling among Umlazi residents is very limited,” said Mbuyisa, whose vision is to create a focus within communities on the value of the circular economy. Mbuyisa also plans to add value to the waste collected by using it for manufacturing construction materials such as bricks “tomake affordablehousing a reality for the community”. “PETCOcoming on board brings Isphepho one step closer to the realisation of our dreams,” she says. Sa f r i po l s u s t a i nab i l i t y manage r, Avashnee Chetty, said the company was committed to supporting waste collec- tion projects such as this as they are an important enabler to the circular economy. “Separation at source initiatives ensure that valuable recyclables stay out of the environment and are recovered for use in the recycling industry. These projects also have the potential to contribute towards im- proving the lives and livelihoods of the most marginalised communities,” said Chetty. Belinda Booker, PETCO collections and training project manager, said there was “a huge need to support collection and recy- cling activities, especially in rural areas and townships where waste management is not well serviced or a priority”. “PET plastic bottles are not trash. They are resources that can be recycled and brought back into the value chain, with local beneficiation,” Booker said. Partnerships at all levels of government, industry and civil society were the key to encouraging waste reduction and increasing collection and recycling, she added. PET recycling in South Africa has con- sistently created more than 60 000 income opportunities annually since 2018. q

The colour-coded bins – green (glass), yellow (plastics), blue (paper) and red (cans) – will appear at schools, communities and businesses in and around Umlazi and will al- lowresidents andbusinesses toseparate their householdwaste for thefirst time. Thismeans – at least for thosewho partake in the project – that onlywaste that cannot be recycledwill end up in the municipality’s landfills. Isphepho (isiZulu meaning ‘tornado’) col- lects recyclables from the community and also facilitates clean-ups inDurban. So far, 20 schools in Umlazi have joined the Separation at Source programme, with Isphepho collect- ing a minimum of 10 t of PET plastic a month. Isphepho aims to increase the number of schools registered to more than 50 over the

started to roll out across South Africa. Following a successful pilot rollout in ThohoyandouandSibasa inLimpopo inMarch last year, theSeparationat Sourceprogramme has celebrated its launch in a secondprovince – KwaZulu-Natal. The May 13 launch in Umlazi saw PETCO – the national industry organisation that sup- ports polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plas- ticbottle recyclingandcollections–handover 120 recycling bins, sponsored by SA’s leading polymer producer Safripol, to environmental group Isphepho Enviro Ambassadors. The donation, worthover R230000, also included 50 bulk bags, a 12 m storage container, a

As part of PETCO’s KwaZulu-Natal Separation at Source programme launch, members of the environmental group, Isphepho Enviro Ambassadors, received a donation of R230 000 in recycling equipment from Safripol.

Youth partake in the launch of the KwaZulu-Natal PETCO Separation at Source recycling programme in Umlazi on May 13.

34 ¦ MechChem Africa • July-August 2021