Wednesday, 10 February 2021
South Africa produces 108 million tons of waste per year. A total of 90% of that waste ends up in landfills and only 10% of waste is currently being recycled. According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, only 16% of plastic in South Africa is recycled. The rest is thrown into dustbins and sent to landfill sites. The amount of plastic that is in our oceans is a cause for serious concern. 2021 should be an opportunity for ordinary citizens to reflect on ways in which everyone can contribute to change in behaviour around recycling and environmental conservation.
The case for waste management and recycling cannot be overstated. Besides its impact in conserving our natural resources, recycling has a critical role to play in significantly reducing the cost of production of many products.
Erik Solheim, Sixth UN Environment Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General, painted a grim picture when he remarked: “Up to 80% of all litter in our oceans is made of plastic. At the rate at which we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags, cups and straws after a single use, by 2050 we will have more plastics in the oceans than fish.”
While cynics may consider such projections to be far-fetched and futuristic, the ocean economy is already buckling under the strain of the plastic and littering that is not recycled. According to the United Nations, the cost of marine litter amounts to a whopping USD$8 billion a year, which manifests in the form of costs for fisheries, aquaculture, damage to vessels, port operations, marine tourism and clean up.
Litter and illegal dumping have far-reaching environmental, social and economic effects. Besides being unsightly and putrescent, an unclean environment incubates and transmits disease, contaminates the soil and water, blocks storm water drains which leads to localised flooding during heavy rains. In addition, debris and waste from storm water drains ends up in our ports.
Without a doubt, individuals and corporates alike need to ramp up recycling efforts to reduce the hazardous impact of waste. The private sector has a role to play to encourage recycling, leverage its resources to mobilise efforts towards responsible disposal of waste and ensure the integrity of our environment and oceans.
While some of the big retailers have heeded the call and introduced reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging, individuals need to do more because a lot of households in the country do not recycle. Perhaps, 2021 should be the year to introduce recycling as part of day-to-day living in more homes across South Africa. The reality is the way in which we treat the environment will in turn affect the way in which the environment reacts to us.
A lot more needs to be done, by both individual households and the private sector as efforts cannot be made by some but should be made by all to make recycling a way of life to minimise the impact plastic and waste has on our oceans and marine economy.
There is no one size fits all formula that the private sector can utilise to support recycling. Each industry can use its competency in the sector they are in to encourage innovation and responsible waste disposal practices. Individuals and households should intentionally take responsibility to recycle, and support efforts aimed at recycling, responsible littering and waste management are also crucial, an area in which many South Africans still grapples.
Statistics SA reports that the Western Cape is leading the pack in terms of recycling practices, with 20,3% of households in the province reporting that they are sorting their own waste for recycling, followed by Gauteng at 12,7% while Limpopo lags behind at 1,2%; and the remaining provinces have not done much in this area.
Most of the recycling in urban areas is done by between 60 000 and 90 000 of street surfers, who collect between 80 and 90% of used packaging and paper that are recycling, according to Waste R&D and Innovation Roadmap. These reclaimers save municipalities approximately R750 million a year in potential landfill costs. Despite their invaluable contribution to the preservation of the environment, they have to contend with several challenges including lack of access to landfills in some municipalities, stigmatisation and harassment and exposure to unhealthy working conditions.
While many have resorted to recycling to make a living, they demonstrate the role ordinary South Africans can play towards embracing recycling and preserving the environment.
Recycling is everyone’s responsibility. All stakeholders – individuals, children, households, the public and private sectors – need to adopt practices that will contribute towards the goal of a greener environment. Reducing the volume of waste that ends up in landfills and saving energy and raw materials that are necessary to produce new products may sound like small steps towards a healthy planet, but they are not.
Image source: Pixabay
https://phoenixsun.co.za/97799/make-recycling-part-of-your-new-year-resolutions-in-2021/
