Press releases

Mpact contributes to the growth of recycling in South Africa in 2015

Details: Published: Friday, 15 April 2016 17:16

JSE listed Mpact Group, South Africa’s leading paper and plastic packaging and recycling company, has reported the collection and recycling of half a million tonnes of paper and plastic over the course of 2015.

According to Mpact Recycling’s Managing Director, John Hunt, “This achievement is due to our continued investment into the expansion of our geographical footprint, which is also aided by our educational programmes. This positively influences behaviour and attitudes towards recycling, including encouraging small business entrepreneurs to start paper and board collection businesses, whilst receiving advice, training, and in some cases equipment from Mpact Recycling.”

To ensure that these local recycling entrepreneurs are equipped to succeed and grow, Mpact Recycling provides and installs equipment such as balers at dealers and suppliers. These machines compress waste paper into cubes or bales, which helps the owners to increase the volumes they are able to process and to reduce the time it takes to do so. The technology also allows the centres to process and store more waste paper, effectively increasing the volume of their sales to Mpact Recycling.

Other equipment such as scales, trolleys, bags, bins, and cages have also been supplied by Mpact Recycling to assist in increasing the volumes. To date, the company has numerous bins and cages used by its small businesses and buy-back centres; as well as nearly 2,000 paper banks located countrywide at schools and communities. Through these systems, as well as through schools, communities, trolley-preneurs, buy-back-centres and suppliers, the company has been able to strengthen recycling initiatives.

“One of our most exciting advancements at Mpact this past financial year has been setting up the R350 million polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling operation in Wadeville, Germiston,” continues Hunt. “The plant which produces recycled PET (rPET) plastic for food grade packaging, complies with European Union (EU) Food Safety Authority specifications. This is for the production of packaging for both food and beverage products. This is good news as the opening of this operation increases the amount of PET bottles collected for recycling by 29,000 tonnes a year.”

According to Hunt, the input of recovered paper and plastic also has a positive impact on climate change, specifically preventing the incineration and landfilling of these recycled materials. Reducing waste going to landfill is achieved by facilitating increased paper and plastic collections and helping to manage the costs of the collection of waste materials from various sources by upping their recycling capacity. In South Africa, this means there are income opportunities in both the formal and informal waste sectors.

“The increase in collected products, recycling capacity and market demand are all indicative of an industry that is proactively changing the way waste products are handled in South Africa. This bodes well for the goals of both Mpact and its partners as we move towards a sustainable future,” concludes Hunt.