A responsible local polystyrene recycling company has assisted a neighbouring country with the setting up of an industry body to oversee the recycling of polystyrene.
According to Polystyrene Packaging Council (PSPC) Director, Adri Spangenberg, the Zimbabwean government and environmental organizations have begun putting pressure on local industries, to address their polystyrene litter and recycling issues.
Zimbabwe is currently facing a bright economic outlook. The country’s economy grew an average 9.3 % last year as it continued to bounce back after a decade of economic decline, and will expand further in 2013 on the back of increased output in mines and farms benefitting from the more stable political climate.
“The country now has the available resources and motivation to look at saving landfill space and putting a sustainability plan into action. They have heard of the successes we’ve been able to achieve with Polystyrene recycling and developing new markets for recycled polystyrene in South Africa, and were eager to learn from our best practice models and collaborate with us on future initiatives”, she says.
correcting polystyrene recycling misconceptions
Apart from spelling out the importance of creating a sustainable and responsible polystyrene recycling forum and offering advice on the best investments to be made into infrastructure, the PSPC was also invited to offer advice on how to correct misconceptions that exist surrounding polystyrene and the importance of ongoing consumer education.
“Currently there is no recycling of polystyrene taking place in Zimbabwe and some of the locally manufactured and imported polystyrene are not marked with the recycling symbol – making polystyrene identification difficult in this country,” Adri says. “In addition, a lot of education also needs to be done amongst the Zimbabwean public as polystyrene litter is visible in the streets and the people are ignorant about the correct usage, disposal and recycling of polystyrene”, Adri says.
A joint working group, which is represented by many of the Zimbabwean polystyrene industry’s role players, has already been established. A steering committee is driving the process forward and has taken on the responsibility of developing a strategic business plan that will be presented to the stakeholders.
Zimbabwe aims for 20% recovery rate
“They have identified various objectives they would like to achieve during the short to medium term, such as investigating the pelletizing of polystyrene and the use of Polystyrene in building projects. Zimbabwe is hoping to achieve PS recovery rate of 20% of total volume per annum and to set up a recycling program first in Harare, followed by the rest of Zimbabwe. However, they are kick starting their short term activities by introducing the PSPC’s Cooking bag project (whereby recycled polystyrene is used for cooking bags) to local communities, as well as the success we’ve achieved with the Breadtags for Wheelchairs project”, Adri says.
The South African Polystyrene Packaging Council has committed their ongoing support and assistance to its new Zimbabwean counterpart. “We are proud to be a part of this much needed and exciting development that will see increased recycling of polystyrene throughout sub-Saharan Africa. By combining our knowledge and resources we will be able to develop improved strategies and markets that will ultimately be to the benefit of our entire continent”, Adri says.
The Polystyrene Packaging Council (PSPC) was recently invited by Versapak in Harare to assist with the setting up of a similar industry body to oversee the recycling of polystyrene in this neighbouring country.
According to PSPC Director, Adri Spangenberg, the Zimbabwean government and environmental organizations have begun putting pressure on local industry to address their polystyrene litter and recycling issues.
Zimbabwe is currently facing a bright economic outlook. The country’s economy grew an average 9.3 % last year as it continued to bounce back after a decade of economic decline, and will expand further in 2013 on the back of increased output in mines and farms benefitting from the more stable political climate.
“The country now has the available resources and motivation to look at saving landfill space and putting a sustainability plan into action. They have heard of the successes we’ve been able to achieve with Polystyrene recycling and developing new markets for recycled polystyrene in South Africa, and were eager to learn from our best practice models and collaborate with us on future initiatives”, she says.
Apart from spelling out the importance of creating a sustainable and responsible polystyrene recycling forum and offering advice on the best investments to be made into infrastructure, the PSPC was also invited to offer advice on how to correct misconceptions that exist surrounding polystyrene and the importance of ongoing consumer education.
“Currently there is no recycling of polystyrene taking place in Zimbabwe and some of the locally manufactured and imported polystyrene are not marked with the recycling symbol – making polystyrene identification difficult in this country,” Adri says. “In addition, a lot of education also needs to be done amongst the Zimbabwean public as polystyrene litter is visible in the streets and the people are ignorant about the correct usage, disposal and recycling of polystyrene”, Adri says.
A joint working group, which is represented by many of the Zimbabwean polystyrene industry’s role players, has already been established. A steering committee is driving the process forward and has taken on the responsibility of developing a strategic business plan that will be presented to the stakeholders.
“They have identified various objectives they would like to achieve during the short to medium term, such as investigating the pelletizing of polystyrene and the use of Polystyrene in building projects. Zimbabwe is hoping to achieve PS recovery rate of 20% of total volume per annum and to set up a recycling program first in Harare, followed by the rest of Zimbabwe. However, they are kick starting their short term activities by introducing the PSPC’s Cooking bag project (whereby recycled polystyrene is used for cooking bags) to local communities, as well as the success we’ve achieved with the Breadtags for Wheelchairs project”, Adri says.
The South African Polystyrene Packaging Council has committed their ongoing support and assistance to its new Zimbabwean counterpart. “We are proud to be a part of this much needed and exciting development that will see increased recycling of polystyrene throughout sub-Saharan Africa. By combining our knowledge and resources we will be able to develop improved strategies and markets that will ultimately be to the benefit of our entire continent”, Adri says.
Leave a Reply or Follow