KZN Industrial Technology Exhibition kicks off 2022 expos

THE KwaZulu-Natal Industrial Technology Exhibition (KITE) took place last week Thursday, February 17 at the Durban Exhibition Centre (DEC).

The show offered a platform for suppliers of industrial technology products and services to reach their local target market. The industries represented at the fair included; manufacturing, engineering, agriculture, metal and mineral processing and polymer technology.

According to KITE organisers the trade expo has been a staple in the province for four decades, due to the fact that the port of Durban is one of Africa’s busiest in terms of handling cargo and the Durban-Free-State-Gauteng logistics and transport corridor forms the backbone of South Africa’s freight transportation network. It is also vital in facilitating economic growth for the country.

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The exhibitors at the show included the likes of architects, engineers, agriculturists and technicians. There were talks from masters of a range of industries, one of those speakers was Albie Jordaan.

Jordaan works in architecture as the general manager of sales and marketing at Harvey Roofing Products and Harvey EcoTile, and is also in the business of finding eco-friendly solutions to the nation’s plastic pollution problem. He began his talk by explaining the pollution crisis, not only evident in the ocean surrounding our province, but across the globe, “We have a serious problem in KZN. Our marine creatures are being killed by the tremendous amounts of pollution. These beautiful creatures eat the plastic and they get a sense of being full and eventually die of starvation, their bellies filled with discarded plastic items.” He went on to explain what a dire state of affairs KZN has itself in, “Soon, if not already, the weight of all the plastic in the world’s oceans will weigh more than the ocean’s fish, much of this plastic is already in the fish themselves,” said Jordaan.

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Despite its harmful impact, Jordaan said plastic was essential. He said however, that recycling is the key to solving the problem.

The recycling value chain refers to the different steps from waste collection to commercialisation of secondary products, “As a country we are producers of millions of tons of plastic.

In the recycling value chain, there are too many steps between waste generation and recycling. How can we shorten this chain? We encourage separation at the source – that source is in our homes.”

Up until Covid-19 hit, KITE according to Keraysha Pillay, senior marketing manager for Specialised Exhibitions – a division of Montgomery Group, said it was an annual event, “It was challenging but we were up for the challenge and eventually, we adapted to the circumstances. We adhered to all Covid-19 protocols and due to the safety measures that were taken, exhibitors and visitors were much more comfortable attending the expo and enjoying it as well.”

Pillay said this event has set the tone for upcoming exhibitions, “With the KITE expo, we kicked off exhibitions for 2022. It was a major success and will serve as an example that after the pandemic, we can still make things happen.”