Clean-up and Recycle South Africa Week: Waste issues in the spotlight
FOURWAYS – The waste depot at Montecasino was the perfect venue for the #WasteStopsWithME dialogue in honour of Clean-up and Recycle SA Week.
As the country celebrated Clean-up and Recycle South Africa Week from 10 to 15 September, a special event was hosted at Montecasino to encourage people to reduce their waste.
Tsogo Sun, Montecasino and the Miss Earth South Africa pageant collaborated on the #WasteStopsWithME dialogue, which was hosted on 13 September at the waste depot located at Montecasino in line with the theme. The event was hosted in order to highlight the role business has to play in reducing waste to landfills and the depot was selected as the venue in order for attendees to catch a glimpse of the work behind recycling.
“The reason we came together today is to discuss an issue that isn’t discussed enough,” said Ella Bella Constantinides-Leite, director of Miss Earth SA and founder of Generation Earth.
“There is no such thing as ‘away’ when we throw things away, they have to go somewhere. We’re tackling this now, while we still can.”
As part of the programme, two dialogues were held with special guests.
The first, addressed waste management in the country currently and how the industry functions and the four panelists were Anton Hanekom (the executive director of Plastics SA), Samantha Choles (a communications representative for the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa), Malcolm Whitehouse (the operations manager of the Electronic Waste Association of South Africa and Mvuselelo Mathebula (the deputy director of Waste Policy and Regulations at the City of Joburg).
The second dialogue looked specifically at the role business can play in the world of recycling and members of that panel were Logan Govender (of Frys Metal. Kate Stubbs (of Interwaste) Simon Thom (the managing director of Eco-Monkey) and Candy Tothill-Kruger of Tsogo Sun.
“We can’t just end the demand for things like plastic or cans overnight,” added Constantinides-Leite.
“Rather we can focus on being responsible in how we produce, repurpose and recycle these items.”
In support of the day’s aim, the day before the dialogue (12 September) a tenant pledge ceremony was held for the business owners housed at Montecasino. At this ceremony, the tenants re-committed themselves to reduce their waste and increase recycling efforts.
“By changing one thing every single day, such as no longer using plastic straws, you can contribute to big change,” concluded Tothill-Kruger.
Details: www.missearthsa.co.za
