The vision of the City of Cape Town’s Environmental Resource Management Department (ERMD) is to ensure that sustainable and equitable development is combined with sound environmental practice for a healthy local environment, which sustains people and nature, provides protection for our unique resources and brings about an enhanced quality of life for all. The vision of the … [Read more...]
Get recycling to make a difference in your community
Do you love where you live? Is your environment clean, healthy and free of litter? Are you helping to improve the appearance of your community? Even in highly built-up and poor areas, each of us can make a difference as individual. Every little bit helps – each of us can make a contribution to looking after the environment by recycling packaging materials and other … [Read more...]
Time to combat marine debris at 2nd summit
The growing amount of litter found in oceans around the Africa, the lack of understanding about ways of combatting marine debris, and the need for a unified plan to tackle the problem on the continent will be high on the agenda during the forthcoming Second African Marine Debris Summit that takes place from 3-5 June 2015 in Cape Town. Hosted by Plastics|SA, in conjunction … [Read more...]
Film fest goes nationwide to bring awareness about eco issues
The South African Eco Film Festival (SAEFF) will bring the world’s best documentary films with environmental themes to South African audiences from the 26th of March to the 2nd of April. “We’ve branched out,” says Andreas Wilson-Späth of While You Were Sleeping, the non profit organisation behind the event. “After last year’s enthusiastic reception of the Cape Town Eco Film … [Read more...]
Green entrepreneurs make magic with trees and waste
Improving your life whilst greening your environment is a match made in heaven. The Acornhoek community in rural Mpumalanga show us how it's done. The northeast of South Africa is home to some of its best-visited tourist attractions. On the one side is Kruger National Park and the upmarket, private game lodges that surround it. On the other there’s God’s Window and the … [Read more...]
Save food - follow consumption best practice this season
More than 9 million tonnes of food is wasted in our country every year, whilst 12 million South Africans are food insecure, says the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Food wastage happens all the way along the value chain – from production and transport to storage and retail. Food is one of the 3 core building blocks of sustainability, hence this wastage … [Read more...]
New waste roadmap for Green Economy
“Leaders, visionaries, activists and people are led by intuition and fed by imagination as they redraw the maps and rewrite the rules.” (Adapted from the Petco 10 year Anniversary Review.) Ten years have passed since Petco was founded to look after the recycling of PET plastic in South Africa. Petco is also the Green Times’ most longstanding and loyal partner, who grasped … [Read more...]
Winners in plastic recycling competition announced on Facebook
Do you know your plastic recycling? Did you play along with the recent facebook competition? If not, you lost out... POLYCO, the Polyolefin Recycling Company, has announced the names of the 9 winners in its Facebook competition that came to an end last week. The company’s “A Thousand Thank You’s” campaign gave 9 lucky people a chance to win their share of R50 000 by simply … [Read more...]
Turning rubbish collectors into micro-entrepreneurs
In South Africa, 98 million tonnes of waste is still sent to landfill each year. Recycling initiatives remain limited and progress is slow. If increased, recycling enterprise could create many jobs for the 25% of the population that remain unemployed. KZN businesswoman and founder of Supa Mama, Thina Maziya, is tackling both of these problems one refuse bag at a time. Here’s … [Read more...]
How ‘eco-reindeer’ handle their waste
The festive season is just around the corner and consumers are racing to supermarkets to stock up on delicious foods and goodies just in time for this unifying time of year. The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) shares a few guidelines on how to be an ‘eco-reindeer’ by setting up waste separation facilities over the holidays. “There are many benefits … [Read more...]
Remember your bag this holiday
Summer holidays seem to be taken up with shopping madness at every turn. Not only are there truly practical purchases to be made and gifts to be bought to spoil your loved ones, but the advertising world will cunningly lure you into buying much more than you think you need. If you are planning a family vacation away there are probably groceries to be bought, snacks for the … [Read more...]
Collective effort prevents environmental disaster
Swift collective action by members of the South African plastics industry and local environmental officials prevented what could have been an environmental disaster earlier this week, after gale-force winds blew 23 containers of ink cartridges off a cargo vessel, the Seroya Lima, anchored off Port Elizabeth’s Bluewater Bay. The containers were dislodged and fell into the … [Read more...]
Eco music festival doubles down for green artist action
Rocking the Daisies is stepping up the game this year with a focus on social, as well as eco-friendly objectives. For the second year in a row Rocking the Daisies Music and Lifestyle Festival has been awarded the prestigious Highly Commended Award from A Greener Festival. This is a global award that recognises environmentally friendly festivals for following green … [Read more...]
