South African Brands Meeting Recycling Targets, According to New Data

According to new research, brands in South Africa are excelling at recycling and meeting targets for the collection and recycling of plastic packaging.

PETCO, a producer responsibility organization in South Africa, collected data from 2022 about different company’s collection and recycling rates for the products its members registered with the organization. The products mainly include PET bottles, jars, and their labels and closures.

Members of the organization include Pick n Play, Woolworths, Unilever, Tiger Brands, The Beverage Company, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and others.

From the research, PETCO members produced more than 133,000 tons of packaging throughout the South African market. Most of the packaging consisted of PET bottles.

Of the massive amount of packaging produced, 69% of the post-consumer packaging was collected for recycling with a total recycling rate of 66%.

This is due, in part, to the Section 18 amendment to the National Environmental Management: Waste Act which puts responsibility on packaging producers to comply with stipulated annual targets for collection and recycling of post-consumer product packaging.

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