Green Economy Journal Issue 63

CIRCULARITY
10 Recyclables You Should Be Keeping Out Of Your Bin For Recycling Collectors
The informal recycling sector has experienced substantial growth over the years.
Waste is not waste if it has value: value for people, the economy, and the
environment.
Covering significant distances on foot every day,
collectors weave through suburbs, cities and
communities to retrieve ‘waste’ in return for cash.
Recycling ensures that valuable materials are diverted
away from landfills, which are rapidly reaching
capacity. These materials are sorted and sent to
recycling mills and factories for conversion into usable
and commercially viable products.
Recycling collectors do not take all
recyclables
Several recyclables are like gold for waste collectors,
but unfortunately just because it’s recyclable or
recycled in South Africa, does not mean a waste
collector will take it. They will only take items for which
they will earn money, and they will not take items that
they cannot sell or which are too heavy to pull over
long distances.
With a bit of kindness and thought about your own
refuse habits, you can make their work a little quicker
and easier.
Keeping recyclable paper clean and dry is
paramount. As a raw material that can be used in
new paper products, it should not be
contaminated by wet and rotting food waste,
liquids or pet waste.
10
RECYCLABLE ITEMS
TO KEEP ASIDE FOR
RECYCLING COLLECTORS
1. Brown cardboard boxes
2. Food packaging such as cereal,
Pizza and take-away boxes
(Remove food residue)
3. Grocery delivery bags and
Take-away bags
4. Used office paper
5. Plastic milk bottles
6. PET soft drink bottles –
Various sizes
7. Fabric softener bottles
8. Milk and juice cartons
9. Aluminium
Soft drink cans
10. Food cans
to guide and inform the sector, and innovative technologies, many
of which are now being further developed or implemented together
with private sector partners.
For example, we’re seeing really interesting and beneficial
research out of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s
(CSIR) Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) on the
recovery of high-value products from forestry, pulp and paper
sector waste streams. These technologies have the potential to
reduce the environmental burden on industries and to unlock
new enterprises.
The Waste RDI Roadmap, as a strategic document to guide
the investment and direction in waste research, development
and innovation in South Africa, comes to an end now in 2025.
But we won’t stop what we’re doing. There’s still so much work
to be done in this space. Instead, the activities of the Waste RDI
Roadmap are being incorporated into the Department of Science
and Innovation’s new Science, Technology and Innovation for a
Circular Economy (STI4CE) Strategy. This new strategy is currently
being finalised in response to government’s new STI Decadal Plan
(2022-2032) which recognises the circular economy as a growth
opportunity for South Africa.
Because most of the Waste RDI Roadmap research is publicly
funded, the outputs are made available on the Waste RDI Roadmap
website for everyone to access. We hope that business will engage
with this research, and with our research community, to use this
evidence and to adopt these technology solutions into their business
practices, thereby uplifting the entire sector.
What does the circular economy mean for South Africa as a
developing country?
This concept of a circular economy – to design out pollution and
waste, to keep products and materials in use and to regenerate
natural systems – has gained a lot of traction globally and locally
over the past five or so years. There is still, unfortunately, this
misnomer that the circular economy is just about waste, or worse
still, that it’s a synonym for recycling.
Waste is a logical entry point into the circular economy, a “low
hanging” fruit in terms of implementing circular solutions, but there
is so much more to the circular economy than that. The circular
economy is really about sustainable resource management. I would
go so far as to say that the circular economy is about national
The circular economy is about
national resource-security in support
of socio-economic development.
resource-security in support of socio-economic development –
through sustainable resource utilisation. This is why transitioning
to a more circular economy is no longer a nice-to-have, but an
economic, social and environmental imperative for every country.
Research by the CSIR has shown that resource scarcity is a driver
for South Africa to transition to a more circular economy. We’ve
seen the impacts of energy insecurity on the national economy,
and water insecurity on regional and local economies. Available
information suggests that South Africa has 18 critical and strategic
minerals, five of which have less than 50 years of economically
viable mining remaining, assuming no new reserves are found.
And unfortunately, more than 90% of these minerals are exported
leaving us with little ability to recover them at end of product life and
reintroduce these resources back into the South African economy.
Materials insecurity, particularly for non-renewable resources,
is therefore a reality for South Africa, as it is for all countries. I
believe though, that the circular economy also presents significant
opportunities for South Africa and Africa – a different kind of growth
path for the continent – a more sustainable, low-carbon, efficient
and sufficient growth path that meets the needs of all, and with it
the potential to create significant jobs. And that’s incredibly exciting.
How does waste-to-energy fit into a circular economy?
This question really depends on how you define waste-to-energy
(WtE). It’s a very broad term which encompasses many technology
solutions, from landfill gas recovery to low temperature bio-WtE
technologies such as anaerobic digestion or biogas recovery, to
high-temperature thermal-WtE technologies such as incineration,
pyrolysis and gasification. I do believe that bio-WtE technologies like
biogas recovery from organic waste streams such as food, garden
or agricultural waste is integral to a circular economy.
However, thermal-WtE technologies are really about the
destruction of waste streams, the destruction of resources,
either because they are not technically or economically reusable
or recyclable (design flaw), or because we have failed to put the
Golden rules for recycling
Separate recyclables
And food/wet waste.
1. 3.
Get a bin, box or
bucket for your
recyclables.
Recycling containers
don’t need to be
fancy or expensive.
2. 4.
5.
Keep paper recyclables
clean and dry.
Give plastic, glass and
cans a light rinse if
needed, using dirty dish
water.
Get the family involved
and make sure everyone
knows what is recyclable.
Putting People, Paper And
The Planet At The Centre
Of The Circular Economy.
www.fibrecircle.co.za | 011 593 3144
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