Paper recycling 2020 target of 70% reached in 2017
Highlights
- 1,3 million tonnes of paper products, cardboard boxes and liquid cartons diverted from landfill in 2017.
- Increased rates driven by industry investment for local beneficiation in mills.
- Informal collectors and partnerships with municipalities are also key drivers in recycling.
- Sector challenges the need for paper and paper packaging industry tax – prefers route of public-private partnerships.
JOHANNESBURG (4 June, 2018) — The Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (PRASA) has announced the 2017 paper recycling rates. Last year the paper recycling industry along with conscientious consumers and thousands of informal collectors kept 1,3 million tonnes of paper and paper packaging out of landfill. This equates to 233 soccer fields or 1,539 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
This tonnage represents 70% of the 1,8 million tonnes of paper available for recovery, which excludes books and archived records, and unrecyclable paper like toilet tissue.
“We are delighted with our latest statistics as it shows us that people are recycling more,” says Ursula Henneberry, PRASA operations director. In 2015, the association set a target of 70% by the year 2020, and this has been achieved three years early.
In the past six years alone, a total of seven million tonnes of paper and paper packaging have been recovered for recycling – this would cover 1,273 soccer fields. “The unsung heroes are our country’s informal recycling collectors along with industry players who operate collection and drop-off schemes,” notes Henneberry.
“While our recovery rate has increased, there has been a drop in local consumption particularly in printing and writing grades, so much so that a newsprint paper machine was closed down last year,” remarks Jane Molony, executive director of the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA).
“This decline is however in line with international trends,” adds Molony. The average annual per person consumption in South Africa has dropped from around 50kg in 2011 to close to 40kg in 2017. Some of this reduction is attributable to cost saving, electronic media substitution and the country’s weak economic growth.
The paper packaging industry does not need another tax
Commenting on the Section 28 notice1 (published on 6 December 2017) calling for Industry Waste Management Plans, PAMSA asserts that the private sector consistently invests heavily in voluntary waste management initiatives without it being mandatory. “We would prefer not to have mandatory taxes as these will increase the price of packaging. And our economy and already cash-strapped consumers cannot afford additional costs,” explains Molony.
In addition the objectives of the notice will not be met through more taxes but rather through strengthening existing partnerships between industry, municipalities, the Department of Environmental Affairs and other public institutions. It is through partnerships with the likes of the Fibre Processessing and Manufacturing (FP&M) SETA that PRASA have trained 6,000 recycling collectors and entrepreneurs since 2010. PRASA has also worked with the FP&M SETA and the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations to formalise the qualifications that these entrepeneurs receive.
According to Statistics SA, there has been a substantial increase of jobs in the paper recycling sector from 2016 to 2017, which has been buoyed by robust demand from paper mills.
Robust local beneficiation
The sector has the capacity to process all the waste paper it collects and less than 5% was exported in 2017. As a result, South Africa is less vulnerable to the vagaries of the international waste paper market and although China’s moratorium on waste paper imports did have some impact, it was neglible compared with the likes of the USA and UK.
As an industry, we embark on numerous awareness drives, promoting better separation-at-source to reduce the contamination of waste paper and provide a better quality fibre for paper manufacturers, Molony concludes.
