The PET Recycling Company (Pty) Ltd (PETCO) was proud to play a part in the Better Together Games hosted by Western Cape Government (WCG) on Friday 25 October 2013. The event, hosted at the University of the Western Cape campus, attracted close on 10 000 officials and is one of the most popular and well attended events on the Western Cape Government calendar. This event … [Read more...]
Doing well by doing good
“How do we do well by doing good?” This was the focus of the Green Team event at Spier of our previously local, but now national, leading waste minimisation company, WastePlan. During these events educational topics of interest are discussed and presented to anyone interested in learning more. Not many people know that the original idea for the Green Times newspaper was born … [Read more...]
Time to respond to rubbish
Recycling in Pretoria is going from strength to strength. All homes, flats and townhouses are now served by a domestic recycling collection company. WastePlan took over this service during October from Koten, who has been operating a household recycling program in Pretoria East for the past 3 years. The new programme is called Re:Spond. The aim of this free household … [Read more...]
Oostenberg residents slow to recycle
Some folk are just too 'comfortable' to appreciate a good thing, or do they just not care? The latest roll-out of the City of Cape Town's Think Twice curb side recycling system to the Durbanville area is particularly slow on the uptake. Since August 1st the Oostenburg area joined the Think Twice program with other suburbs to have their clean recyclables collected from … [Read more...]
Separation at source is the heart of recycling
'The government has created the New Domestic Waste Collection Standards for municipalities to measure their own waste reduction strategies against, as all municipalities are obliged to organise separation at source,' said Bertie Lourens, MD of Wasteplan, during a chat with Redi Thlabi on Radio 702. Wasteplan is the waste minimisation company servicing 75% of all the greater … [Read more...]
Northern suburbs join curb-side recycling
This month another milestone in the roll out of waste minimisation in our country is reached, when Cape Town's northern suburbs join the Think Twice curb-side recycling initiative to have their domestic recyclables collected and transported to a nearby materials recovery centre. Altogether 38 000 new households from Welgemoed to Kraaifontein, north of the N1, will now … [Read more...]
Super easy waste minimisation for Gauteng
In many areas of the City of Cape Town, recycling is no longer something you wonder how to participate in, where to deliver your waste, or whom to call. Some of us - certainly here in the Helderberg - are lucky to have the most jacked up domestic and industrial waste minimisation system in the country. Our clean recyclables are collected from our homes or businesses once a … [Read more...]
Waste becomes food again as nature teaches
For millions of years all waste served as food for some organisms to live off and thrive. In a circular cycle a leaf dropping off a tree would biodegrade - providing food for micro-organisms, who break the leaf down into its source elements, which would nourish the soil. The tree's roots, or other plants in the area, would absorb these essential nutrients and so the full … [Read more...]
Waste is everyone’s business
An overall strategy addressing waste management would need to consider not only the environmental implications of waste management, but the economic and social implications as well. Importantly, the monies collected and energy spent on recycling should be used specifically for the development of product markets. So said Lutske Newton, the lead drafter of the National … [Read more...]
Infecting the city with conscious art
Music, art and waste formed a fusion of culture and new creativity in Cape Town during the Infecting the City Spier Public Arts Festival. There was the chanting of Sufi sacred texts, martial art based on the knife-fighting techniques of the Cape Flats, hip-hop 'B-Boy duels,' and traditional riel dances of Khoisan farm workers. And large-scale art works made from recyclable … [Read more...]
Waste and soil pair up for health
There is a legend that the world rests on the back of a giant tortoise. And he rests on another tortoise, and another, etc. Its tortoises all the way down. Our country rests on the back of women. Strong, hands-on mothers, with hearts the size of Africa. Today I will tell you about one such woman, and next time another. And another - this story has no end. Nokhaya dreamed … [Read more...]
Dedicated recycling facility for Sea Point
Sea Point now has its own recycling drop off facility too. On 1 December the City of Cape Town's Solid Waste Department opened this new facility at Sea Point Tramway Road. This is the first City drop off site to be 100% dedicated to recycling. Following the resolution of the Mayoral Committee to adopt the City's Integrated Waste Management Policy in 2006, a need for well … [Read more...]
Business greening partnerships accelerate sustainability
The pressure on today's business world is not solely economic. Increasingly environmental issues are playing a role on the global stage. South Africa's legislation reflects this pressure to structure our lives around sustainability. The triple bottom line (people, planet and profit) has replaced the profit driven approach. In fact these pillars of sustainability - social, … [Read more...]
