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In 1970, a university student named Gary Anderson designed a simple, three-arrowed loop for a competition hosted by a cardboard manufacturer, Container Corporation of America (CCA). His logo was meant to raise awareness about recycling during the first Earth Day. It went on to become one of the most recognisable symbols in the world.
The irony? For all its ubiquity, the symbol created awareness around anti littering and recycling, but it didn’t tell you whether or not the packaging was recycled.
Therefore, recyclable is not the same as recycled.
Technically, almost any material can be recycled. But without the infrastructure to collect, sort and recycle it, and without demand from recyclers/converters or end markets, it ends up in a landfill. The process stops before it ever starts.
It’s not just about what the packaging is made of. It’s about the economics behind it. If there’s a buyer for the recyclable packaging, like a cardboard box or plastic bottle, a recycler will want it. If a recycler wants it, they’ll set a price that encourages collection of that recyclable packaging. That creates a knock-on effect, giving waste collectors and recycling businesses a financial incentive to retrieve it from households, shopping centres, offices, events, and even landfill. This is central to how a circular economy in South Africa operates.
But it doesn’t stop there.
To make recycling work, you need infrastructure. That means educating waste collectors on what to collect, training them, providing access to equipment when needed, and investing in the recyclers themselves, so they have the machinery and capacity to process the material. South Africa’s recycling infrastructure is growing, but it still faces challenges.
Without that system in place, “recyclable” is just a label.
At first glance, a paper bag seems easy to recycle. But recycling depends on more than just the material; it also comes down to how the material is constructed and processed. Most potato bags currently in circulation, while paper-based, consists of an outer layer and an inner wet-strength layer, which is moisture resistant that local paper mills can’t break down effectively. As a result, they’re often collected by well-meaning consumers and waste collectors, but rejected during processing and sent to landfill.
The new Shoprite and Checkers potato bag is the first of its kind in South Africa designed specifically to work within existing recycling streams.
It was developed through a collaboration between a team from Shoprite, as part of a Shoprite leadership development programme in partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), and multinational paper supplier Billerud. Billerud’s research and development team in Sweden created a new semi-wet-strength paper formulation that meets South Africa’s recyclability standards, making it suitable for local paper recycling without requiring new infrastructure or a separate waste stream.
Mpact contributed to the success of the new bag not only by accepting it at our branches, but also by helping to ensure it could be recycled in practice. Teams from across the Mpact Group, including the Innovation Lab and our paper mill in Felixton, KwaZulu-Natal, tested how the material performed at mill level and helped guide its integration into South Africa’s recycling system. Once validated, Mpact Recycling committed to accepting the bags through its national network of buy-back centres, suppliers, and depots – and supported broader adoption through awareness campaigns and collection partners. This end-to-end collaboration helped turn a recyclable design into a real-world circular solution.
The verdict? The new bag works.
It can be recycled through existing paper systems without needing special treatment or new infrastructure. That’s a big shift from traditional potato bags, which often clogged paper machines and ended up in landfill. By collaborating with Shoprite and validating the bag’s mill compatibility, Mpact helped close the loop. Today, those sacks can be turned into something new, like a Checkers Sixty60 delivery bag.
The result is a durable paper-based bag that’s strong enough to carry produce and fully recyclable through existing paper recycling systems in South Africa. No new waste stream. No added complexity. Just a smarter, more sustainable way to package one of South Africa’s most consumed foods.
And the numbers matter. According to Potatoes South Africa, over 2 million tonnes of potatoes are consumed every year. From home kitchens to fast-food counters, hot chips are practically part of our national identity. Replacing that packaging with something truly recyclable isn’t just innovation. It’s circular design with real economic benefits that contributes to sustainable packaging in South Africa.
Take liquid board packaging – the kind used for milk and juice cartons. It’s made from layers of paperboard, polyethylene, and a thin sheet of aluminum, giving it the strength and barrier properties needed to keep products fresh for longer. But that sophistication comes at a cost. Unlike cardboard, this material couldn’t simply slot into an existing recycling system. A dedicated collection and recycling stream had to be developed. Mpact invested in building the recycling facility in Springs, while brand owners and PROs like Petco, Fibre Circle, Nampak and Tetra Pak have supported efforts to establish more stable and accessible collection avenues across South Africa.
It was a necessary step. Because while liquid board packaging is more complicated, it plays a vital role in reducing food waste and extending shelf life. And now, thanks to that infrastructure, it’s being collected and recycled locally.
These kinds of shifts, where design, economics, and infrastructure work together, are the foundation of a circular economy. We explored this idea more broadly in a previous blog, looking at what circularity could mean for industries beyond packaging, from electronics to fashion.
That’s what real sustainability often looks like: imperfect materials in perfect alignment with infrastructure and demand.
In 2013, Woolworths South Africa introduced its On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL), becoming the first local retailer to do so. The label was designed to give consumers clear, practical guidance, indicating whether each part of a product’s packaging is recyclable in South Africa, based on the actual collection and recycling infrastructure available. You’ll usually find the OPRL printed directly on the label.
But that’s not the only way to decode recyclability.
Another system used widely in the recycling industry is the material identification code, also known as the polymer identification code, when referring to plastics. These small numbers are typically embossed in a triangle of chasing arrows, often on the base of plastic packaging. They range from 1 to 7 and correspond to different types of plastic, a language familiar to waste collectors, buy-back centres and recyclers in South Africa.
Here are a few common ones:
If you’re looking for a more detailed breakdown of South African packaging labels, including OPRLs, resin codes, and what they actually mean for recycling, our Recycling Reference Guide is a useful resource.
These codes don’t guarantee the item will be recycled, but they tell you what it’s made of, which is the first step in determining whether someone will collect and process it. This is key knowledge for anyone interested in recycling at home in South Africa.
Now that you know the difference between what’s recyclable and what actually gets recycled, you’re better equipped to make the right call at the bin. Start by keeping recyclable packaging separate from general waste. Clean, dry cardboard, paper and certain plastics, like Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), have value and if you collect enough of them, you can sell them to Mpact Recycling. The more we separate at the source, the more we keep out of landfill, and the more we build a circular economy that benefits everyone.
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