Don’t ‘waste’ this holiday season

Year-end holiday celebrations have the potential to undo much of the progress made throughout the year to be more environmentally conscious.

People tend to let the silly season get the better of them when faced with an array of new offerings on retailers’ shelves, and often let their reduce, reuse and recycling principles fall by the wayside as holiday fever sets in.

Kate Stubbs, the marketing director at Interwaste, says people often overlook the difference that one person or one household can make in reducing what lands up in the nation’s strained landfill sites – especially over the festive season when household waste increases significantly.

“Our planet needs our attention and care, and there are many small steps we can take to demonstrate this love over the festive season – while still celebrating and enjoying this time with our family.”

Stubbs shared these tips with Caxton Local Media for reducing your December waste footprint:

• Shop local: Consider doing your food shopping at a local market or farm. When you buy locally, the food doesn’t have to be shipped and refrigerated while transported. This means less packaging and energy is required.
• Avoid single-use plastic items: This includes disposable plates, plastic utensils, cups, straws, bottles, etc. Remember, plastic stays in the environment for ages as it’s not biodegradable, and can spread toxins and pollute our waters and land.
• Reusable grocery bags: Most major grocery stores sell reusable grocery bags, despite a select few still offering plastic. Make an effort to go with the environmentally friendly options – and reuse your bags.
• Consider recycling: When shopping, always look for items that can be recycled. It should not take you more than five minutes to know whether something is recyclable. The trick is to understand what materials can be recycled and ensure that you understand the symbols used. Most packaging has a recycling symbol to show that the packaging is recyclable. Remember, many shopping centres allow you to drop off your recycled goods, like paper, plastic, glass and tins.

Food doesn’t belong in bins

The United Nations Development Programme in South Africa has these tips to prevent food waste at home this holiday season:

• Think: Plan your meals and audit your fridge and grocery cupboards before you go to the shops as this will help you to shop smarter.
• Don’t over-cater: Prepare the right quantity of food, reduce choices and don’t serve more than you need.
• Freeze: Pop leftovers in the freezer to enjoy at a later stage and search ‘holiday leftover recipes’ online for new ideas. The key is to be creative and prevent waste from occurring. Also freeze food such as bread, sliced fruit, or meat that you know you won’t be able to eat in time.
• Top of mind: Store fresh produce where it is easy to see, on eye-level shelves in the fridge or on countertops where it is likely to be seen and eaten. 
• Keep it fresh: Store food in ways that preserve its freshness for as long as possible.
• Expired or not? The ‘sell-by’ date refers to information for the retailer, not for you as the customer. Food past its sell-by date or use-by date is generally still good to eat for a few days. Use your senses to see if food is still good to eat.
• Donate: Give leftovers or extra unopened food items that you will not use to a charity in need. If you have a catering company or restaurant, consider donating unprocessed food to feeding schemes, soup kitchens and shelters. 

Caxton Local Media has a few general tips to share too:

• Compost: Use peels and cores to make garden compost, rather than putting them in the bin.
• Scrunch test: If wrapping paper stays crumpled when squashed in your fist, it is recyclable. Don’t buy shiny paper, as it will spring back into shape and can thus not be recycled.
• Secret Santa: Rather than spending your gift budget on ‘little things’ for everyone, buy a more thoughtful gift or experience for one person. Put the names of everyone you will spend Christmas Day with, or the names of the loved ones you usually buy presents for, into a hat and let each person draw a name. Whoever’s name you draw is your gift recipient. 

In the above image, the symbol on the left means ‘recyclable’ and the one on the right – the polymer identification code – indicates what type of polymer the packaging is made of.

According to Mpact Recycling, a package that features the recycling symbol (the one on the left), is not necessarily recyclable in South Africa, because of the capacity of the country’s recycling centres.

Recycling symbols

The new South African National Standard 1728 dictates that packaging and plastic labels must identify the type of plastics used and say if they are degradable.

The South African Plastics Recycling Organisation says plastic goods are assigned different identification numbers: #1 (PET) and #2 (PE-HD), #3 (PVC),  #4 (PE-LD), #5 (PP), #6 (PS), and #7 for mixed plastics such as polycarbonates that are not recyclable. 

Codes 1, 2 and 4 are suitable for all recycling facilities, codes 5 and 6 can be recycled at most facilities, but codes 3 and 7 currently cannot be recycled in South Africa.

Some retailers, such as Woolworths, are simplifying their label messaging by indicating what can be recycled in metropolitan areas in South Africa.