Today, 18 September, South Africa celebrates National Recycling Day.
During Clean-Up and Recycle SA Week, The Glass Recycling Company (TGRC) and packaging responsibility companies in the recycling space, sponsor national efforts to help remove litter from South Africa’s suburbs, waterways, and beaches.
TGRC has partnered with Plastics SA again this year to assist them with their annual beach clean-up and support the project. The International Coastal Clean-Up Day is the world’s biggest volunteer effort for ocean health. Over the past 24 years that South Africa has been participating in this global event, tens of thousands of people have given up two hours of their time to help rid our beaches of litter. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown measures enacted to help curb its spread, this year’s Clean-Up and Recycle SA Week will be a little different.
Shabeer Jhetam, CEO of The Glass Recycling Company said, “Rather than the large-scale clean-up efforts that volunteers are used to, we will be supporting the global call for observing social distancing measures and avoiding the formation of large gatherings. Instead, volunteers around the country are encouraged to become ambassadors for the recycling cause and champions of green within their own local communities.”
“By taking part in smaller litter clean-up activities within their neighbourhoods and alongside local rivers, spruits or beaches, individuals can use social media posts to encourage others to do the same.”
“By wearing a mask, social distancing, and cleaning up litter and recyclables, volunteers can become masked green heroes and can make a noticeable difference while simultaneously encouraging others in their communities to clean up their own act.”
“Moreover, by championing the cause of recycling and cleaning up, they can use this Clean-Up and Recycle SA Week to help make these initially extraordinary efforts, an ordinary action among all South Africans.”
Jhetam added that communities could also make a difference this National Recycling Month by taking simple steps to start your green journey:
- Organise your own small clean-up day with your family, but do make sure you have bags for all the rubbish you pick up and wear protective gloves, take the rubbish home with your for disposal and recycle the recyclable waste.
- When at home, do keep your glass bottles and jars in a separate container in the kitchen to make recycling them at a glass bank quick and easy.
- To recycle your glass, simply locate your nearest glass bank, a large container for collecting a community’s recyclable glass on TGRC website. You can also apply for a glass bank to be placed in your community.
- Return all your returnable bottles to a supermarket, liquor outlet or retailer once empty, for a refund. These glass containers will be sent to the beverage company where the bottles are sterilised and refilled ready to be reused several times.
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