{"id":223869,"date":"2022-05-06T20:45:49","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T18:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=115569"},"modified":"2022-05-06T20:45:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T18:45:49","slug":"new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains\/","title":{"rendered":"New EPR legislation is a benefit, not a burden, one of Africa\u2019s largest PET recyclers explains"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115570\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115570\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?attachment_id=115570\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"242\" class=\"wp-image-115570 size-thumbnail lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-115570 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains.jpg\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"242\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-115570\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dilip Jade, Technical Director of one of Africa\u2019s largest PET recyclers, Extrupet, examines the company\u2019s new Sima line in Cape Town. The line produces various types of PET strapping made from 100% recycled material. The company\u2019s Pro 10 Strap\u2122 is a technical product ranging from 9mm to 25mm and is used by industries globally for securing loads of bricks, corrugated cardboard, timber and steel \u2014 to name a few. Photo: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As companies navigate the new mandatory extended producer responsibility (EPR) landscape, a leading recycler in the plastics value chain has revealed the unexpected ease in managing its new reporting and compliance requirements as a producer.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest recyclers of PET plastic bottles on the African continent, Extrupet, has been guided in its journey by long-standing producer responsibility organisation PETCO. At the same time \u2013 and in a first for South Africa \u2013 Extrupet is helping its long-time partner to develop an additional end-use market for recycled PET (rPET) in the manufacture of rPET industrial strapping.<\/p>\n<p>Plastic strapping is used extensively to secure unstable goods during transit. From a circular economy perspective, both PET bottles and PET strapping can be diverted from landfill, and economically recovered and recycled into new products, without compromising the quality of the end product.<\/p>\n<p>As a manufacturer of strapping, Extrupet, like other packaging producers, is now obligated to either join an existing producer responsibility organisation (PRO), start a new PRO or run an individual compliance scheme, as part of the National Environmental Management Waste Act (NEMWA) Section 18 mandatory EPR regulations, which came into effect on November 5 last year.<\/p>\n<p>Extrupet is currently the only strapping producer registered to meet its mandatory EPR obligations with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the regulations, producers must take practical and financial responsibility for the full lifecycle of their products. This means designing packaging with recyclability and circularity in mind and also including more recycled content in their products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany companies are still importing rPET strapping, so closing the loop locally provides another high-value end-use for rPET, aside from bottle-to-bottle recycling, or turning it into polyester staple fibre,\u201d said Extrupet joint managing director Chandru Wadhwani.<\/p>\n<p>While clear PET plastic bottles had the highest commercial value for bottle-to-bottle recycling, Wadhwani explained that green and brown PET bottles had limited end-use products associated with them, because they discoloured the recyclate and could not be used for bottle-to-bottle recycling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the past, plastic strapping has provided a viable end-use market for coloured rPET. As producers begin to move away from coloured to clear bottles for maximum recyclability, the clear bottles can now also serve as feedstock for strapping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to encourage companies to support homegrown circular initiatives. The more end-use markets we develop for rPET, the more the benefits will be felt along the entire value chain \u2013 right down to the waste pickers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>PETCO CEO Cheri Scholtz said the Section 18 regulations essentially compelled all organisations and companies involved along the plastics value chain to work as a team to ensure that less waste ended up in landfill.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the regulations, every brand owner, converter, or retailer that places more than 10 tonnes per annum of identified plastic packaging onto the consumer market is deemed a producer and is required to pay an EPR fee per tonne.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a welcome step forward in creating a circular economy and ensuring a transparent system,\u201d said Scholtz.<\/p>\n<p>The knock-on effect of mandatory EPR is set to be heightened investment in infrastructure to support the sustainability of the recycling sector \u2013 from the waste pickers who collect recyclables, to the buy-back centres who purchase and re-sell the materials, and the large-scale recyclers who turn these into recyclate that can be made into new products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout EPR, we wouldn\u2019t be able to scale collection and recycling rates sufficiently to make a meaningful difference to the amount of packaging waste that ends up in the environment each year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Wadhwani said there was a delicate balance between collection, recycling capacity and demand for rPET in the recycling value chain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the only Section 18-registered strapping producer in South Africa, our strapping helps to maintain that balance by providing another end-use market for rPET. Growth in rPET production and consumption is ultimately key to ensuring the sustainability of both the PET and recycling industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Describing the process of registering as a producer member of an experienced PRO like PETCO as \u201csmooth and easy\u201d, Wadhwani said: \u201cPETCO onboarded us seamlessly, guiding us through the process of setting and measuring targets, and making a potentially complex compliance process seem like plain sailing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scholtz attributed this ease to the knowledge and experience born of 17 years\u2019 operating as a voluntary EPR body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve always had audited collection and recycling figures which allowed us to demonstrate a direct link between waste collection and recycling targets,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough PETCO will have to adapt slightly to meet mandatory EPR requirements and support new members in new ways, we do have the advantage of experience over other PROs who may just be getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Strapping falls into the PET flexibles category where legislated targets state that 50% of the product must comprise rPET, 10% must be collected, and 9% recycled. PETCO and Extrupet will be working together to achieve these mandated targets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMandatory EPR has created a space for us to expand our services, starting with a natural extension of the post-consumer PET bottles by including the bottle caps and labels,\u201d Scholtz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExtrupet\u2019s inclusion as a strapping producer also broadens PETCO\u2019s portfolio of products for which we offer an EPR scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/contact\/featured\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Press Release Views:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">84<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Dilip Jade, Technical Director of one of Africa\u2019s largest PET recyclers, Extrupet, examines the company\u2019s new Sima line in Cape Town. The line produces various types of PET strapping made from 100% recycled material. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9021,1],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-223869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mypr","8":"category-south-africa","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/new-epr-legislation-is-a-benefit-not-a-burden-one-of-africas-largest-pet-recyclers-explains.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}