Clean-up & Recycle SA Week has kicked off and MPact is urging you to play your part
JOBURG — When South Africans embrace recycling, they help reduce pollution and contribute towards a healthier, greener and cleaner society for themselves and future generations.
South Africa’s annual Clean-up & Recycle SA Week has kicked off and will run from 11 to 17 September and incorporates Recycling Day SA on 16 September.
According to a 2016 World Bank report, SA produces 54 425 tonnes of refuse daily, the 15th highest rate in the world. This is expected to increase to 72 146 tonnes per day by 2025.
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Mpact Recycling Gauteng regional manager, Alan De Haas said when South Africans embraced recycling, they helped reduce pollution and contributed towards a healthier, greener and cleaner society for themselves and future generations.
“Not only this, recycling affords over 100 000 people the opportunity to earn an income and support their families,” he added. “In addition, schools and other community organisations can raise money by recycling.”
He explained that recycling was very simple as it involved separating recyclables at home into separate designated containers for paper, plastic, glass and cans. The recyclables can then be dropped off at a local school, community centre or buy-back centre.
De Haas stressed the importance of knowing what could and could not be recycled. He said it was also vital to know what to do with items for recycling, such as flattening boxes and rinsing plastic containers, as well as leaving the items to be collected in the right spot for pick up if you have a kerbside collection programme running in your area.
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He urged people who live in neighbourhoods where Ronnie Bags are collected on a weekly basis to put all recyclable paper packaging, boxes, milk and juice cartons into the bags and leave them on their kerbs to be collected on the designated day. In this way, you will substantially reduce the amount of waste going into your rubbish bin every week.
De Haas said South Africans needed to view their refuse in a different way. “We all need to start seeing refuse as a resource that can be used in ways that can drive the economy – making a real and remarkable difference for the environment, rather than something that should just be discarded.”
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