Africa

LONDON, March 4, 2020 (Press Release) -Global Recycling Day, taking place on 18th March 2020, has already inspired 24 (and counting) organisations and communities across the globe to organise events and initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of recycling and the ways we can turn ‘waste’ into a valuable resource.

From educational talks in schools to beach clean-ups and performances for local communities, there is a wide range of events taking place, alongside the worldwide #RecyclingHeroes competition, which is accepting entries until 8 March 2020.

The competition recognises unsung individuals, business or communities that are setting examples and pushing boundaries with their recycling initiatives. 10 winners, each set to receive a $1,000 prize, are due to be announced on 18th March 2020.

Founding President of the Global Recycling Foundation, Ranjit Baxi, said:

“We are proud that some of the most innovative individuals and recycling organisations around the world are joining us to make our third Global Recycling Day a real sucess. Reaching as many people as possible is crucial in spreading the word on the effects of climate change and how recycling can help. We need to collaborate with as many organisations as possible to combat the climate emergency together, and encourage them to get in touch with the Foundation to share their plans for the day with us.”

Below are details of some of the events and activities that are planned for Global Recycling Day 2020:

Abuja, Nigeria - Pick That Trash

Pick That Trash, an operational NGO focused on the environment, will be promoting recycling in schools. On 18th March 2020 Pick That Trash will visit the Government Secondary School, Maitama, FCT. Nigeria. Additionally, on 21st March 2020 Pick That Trash will visit Mosquito Village, Dakibiu, Jabi Upstair. FCT. Nigeria. The organisation is also planning clean-up activities to mark Global Recycling Day.

Bath and North East Somerset, UK

Bath and North East Somerset Council is inviting local residents to a series of events on 18th March where people can find out tips and tricks to help save the environment. These talks will take place across libraries in Bath, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton and the Bath Cloth Nappy Library will be on hand to help parents and carers with making the switch from disposables.

Belfast, Northern Ireland - Cap Arts Centre

On 21st March 2020, Cap Arts Centre in Belfast will be organising a show to celebrate Global Recycling Day. This will include poetry, dance, music and fashion.

Bhubaneswar, India - National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) & Youth for Sustainable Impact

Youth for Sustainable Impact is partnering with the National Institute of Fashion Technology in India to celebrate Global Recycling Day on both 18th and 19th March. There will be school tours, awareness programmes and a competition for students to create products from waste by recycling them (the best product will win a cash prize and will be up for sale).

Bristol, UK – AECOM

AECOM, an international infrastucure firm, is celebrating Global Recycling Day by showcasing a documentary called ‘A Plastic Tide’, supplying plastic-free refreshments and conducting a waste audit of the bins around the office.

Bulgaria – BG Be Active

BG Be Active, an organisation dedicated to positive social change sustainbile development in Bulgaria, is starting a national campaign and organising local events in several Bulgarian cities together with local grassroot organisations to promote recycling on March 18th.

Dubai, UAE - Bureau of Middle East Recycling (BMR)

BRM will be marking Global Recycling Day by reaching out to local schools across Dubai, educating school children on the importance of recycling for a sustainable planet. BMR has chosen four schools to educate and will be tree planting in one of Dubai’s industrial districts.

Ilmenau, Germany – CFF

CFF works to develop natural cellulose fibres across a range of industries. To celebrate Global Recycling Day 2020, CFF will be working with a local school (Staatliche Regelschule gräfinau-Angstedt) encouraging students and teachers to collect wastepaper that CFF can then use for their producing process.

Johannesburg, South Africa – Department of Environmental Affairs

The Department of Environmental Affairs is organising activations to celebrate Global Recycling Day in Orange Farm, Johannesburg. There will be a march with school children highlighting illegal waste dumping and, in the lead up to the march, work completed by Lesedi la Kreste Primary School in Orange Farm will be showcased. Pupils have also created eco-bricks from 2L PET bottles and filled them with waste material. These eco bricks will be used to build school benches.

There will also be a clean-up campaign in one of the areas close to the school on Global Recycling Day. Once the area has been cleaned up it will become a vegetable garden for the local community.

Lagos, Nigeria - U-Recycle Initiative

This year, U-Recycle Initiative is organising a press conference on 18th March 2020 from 7.30am – 8.30am at the National Stadium in Lagos. This will be followed by an awareness walk to mark Global Recycling Day from 10am – 2pm, which will start at the National Stadium in Lagos.

On Thursday 19th March, U-Recycle Initiative will be doing a tour of three local schools in Lagos, with the aim of giving talks to educate them on recycling.

London, UK

To celebrate Global Recycling Day in London, the Global Recycling Foundation will be holding an event at the House of Commons to recognise UK #RecyclingHeroes and announce plans for a new project in Africa.

Middleburg, South Africa

Global Recycling Foundation Ambassador Ilse Botha, also an environmental and sustainability consultant based in Middleburgh, is organising a host of activities to celebrate Global Recycling Day. This includes:

• A Global Recycling Day night race for students at Kanonkop High School
• A video on recycling to be shown to students at Kanonkop High School
• Sponsorship of recycling bins for Gansiekeur Pre-Primary School and Hoër Tegniese Skool Middelburg

Oxford, UK – Sobell House Hospice

In recognition of Global Recycling Day, Oxford Instruments is asking staff members to donate one item every day in March to sell in Sobell House Hospice shops. As well as helping the local hospice raise funds, this initiative also helps with local recycling. To find out more or get involved, please call 01865 857066.

Paris, France - FEDEREC

FEDEREC is running a poster competition for schools to take part in, with finalists work showcased in the Gallerie MR14 in Paris on 18th March 2020.

Portsmouth, UK - Portsmouth Music Hub

Portsmouth Music Hub has written a dedicated #RecyclingHeroes song for local children to sing on Global Recycling Day. This will be filmed and shared across their social media channels. They are also planning a Recycling Rumba.

South Yorkshire, UK - Danieli Centro Recycling

Danieli Centro Recycling in South Yorkshire is holding a ‘plogging’ (jogging and litter-picking) event in conjunction with a local school to celebrate Global Recycling Day. Danieli is also working with Wales High School in Sheffield to organise a litter pick up around the school and local area. Pupils will also have the chance to visit the Danieli Centro Recycling headquarters for an ‘Engineering in Action’ session.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - The Asia Foundation

On 18 March 2020, The Asia Foundation will be launching eight videos on the theme of recycling, including disposing of medicines correctly and re-using plastics and wood scraps.

The Asia Foundation will also be organising a one-month recycling challenge for its staff, where people are encouraged to bring recyclables from home.

Washington, USA - Ranier Apparel

Ranier Apparel is organising a beach clean-up for locals on 21st March 2020 at the Purdy Sand Spit from 11am – 1pm. The aim is to collect as much waste and rubbish from the beach and dispose of it correctly.

Other organisations planning events across the world including the Dutch Embassy, the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) in Brussels and the Inland Importers and Consumers Association (ICCA) in Delhi. In addition, the following organisations are just a few supporting the Global Recycling Foundation’s #RecyclingHeroes competition:

• Exposucata – Brazil
• Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) – Washington D.C. USA
• BMRA – Rotherham, UK

About the Global Recycling Foundation

The Global Recycling Foundation supports the promotion of recycling, and the recycling industry, across the world in order to showcase its vital role in preserving the future of the planet. It will promote Global Recycling Day as well as other educational programmes, awareness projects and innovation initiatives which focus on the sustainable and inclusive development of recycling.

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 12, 2019 (Press Release) -More than 12 million tonnes of paper and paper packaging have been recovered in South Africa for recycling during the past decade. The overall paper collection rate in 2018 of 71.7% is comparable with the most successful countries globally. This, according to the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA), ensures that waste paper is diverted from landfill and recycled into new products.

Although 2019 has seen over-capacity of both pulp and paper worldwide, collection rates for the year-to-date are still looking good. However, the global market for waste paper has changed considerably over the past few years and this, plus the local economy’s lack of growth, means 2020 is expected to get off to a slow start.

China’s stricter requirements for cleaner waste paper imports since the end of 2017 and their ultimate aim of having zero imports in a year or two has meant that 30 million tonnes of waste paper needs to find a new home. As a result, global prices of waste paper have declined significantly, and in some countries, you even have to pay to have your waste paper collected.

These structural changes present both a challenge and an opportunity.

Successful paper recycling in SA

South Africa is in the enviable position of being able to recycle up to 90% of its recovered waste paper locally into paper packaging, serving the agricultural, manufacturing and retail sectors. A country like Sweden has high collection rates but only recycles 11%; the majority feeds waste-to-energy plants.

The challenge – and opportunity – is to develop new uses for recovered waste paper during this economic slowdown, which has led to lower production by South African paper mills that use waste paper as raw material.

Greener opportunities in wood-based fibre products

PAMSA’s producer responsibility organisation, Fibre Circle, has earmarked R2 million specifically for research and development of alternate and innovative uses for waste paper.

Fibre Circle is aimed at broadening the scope and use of recovered paper through extended producer responsibility (EPR). Representing manufacturers and importers of paper and paper packaging, Fibre Circle’s EPR programme seeks to support the establishment of infrastructure and alternative systems to support the collection and reprocessing of recyclables. 

“In line with the circular economy, we have to work together to develop new paper-based solutions to prevent valuable and usable fibre going to landfill and ensure it is turned into value,” says Francois Marais, manager of Fibre Circle. “This will require exploring novel material substitutions.”

“There is also a socio-economic imperative – we cannot afford to see the fruits of 10 years of entrepreneur training and SMME creation come to nothing,” says Marais. “We have to adjust to a new normal: reduce the amount of packaging we consume and find innovative uses for waste paper, beyond cardboard boxes.”

Wood-based fibre, which includes paper and board, is a greener and renewable alternative to fossil-based materials. Made from farmed trees, wood and paper store carbon in their fibres. Wood and paper – essentially cellulose – are also versatile.

“Sending it to landfill is just not an option,” says Marais.

AboutPAMSA

The Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA) promotes the renewability and recyclability of paper products that we use every day. PAMSA represents 90% of South African pulp and paper manufacturers and manages RecyclePaperZA, the paper recycling association of South Africa, which represents processors of recycled paper fibre. PAMSA provides a platform to the sector on pre-competitive issues such as research, energy, water and environmental matters as well as education, training and development.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 18, 2019 (Press Release) -Sappi Limited is pleased to announce that its three dissolving wood pulp (DWP) production facilities namely Cloquet, Ngodwana and Saiccor mills have completed the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) self-assessment via the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s (SAC) online portal. The Higg FEM is a sustainability assessment tool that standardises how facilities measure and evaluate their environmental performance, year over year.

Sustainability performance is influenced by the effectiveness of a company’s Environmental Management System. In addition, the tool evaluates whether baseline measurements and continuous improvement plans are in place for water, energy and chemical use, as well as for waste water, air emissions, and waste generation.

With Sappi becoming a member of the SAC in February 2019, it has used the opportunity to benchmark its sustainability initiatives within a global context. To the best of our knowledge, Sappi is the first non-integrated DWP manufacturer to complete the online self-assessment and we look forward to using the Higg FEM to galvanise and progress our leadership position as a sustainable producer of dissolving wood pulp.

Krelyne Andrew, Sappi Dissolving Wood Pulp’s General Manager Sustainability commented: “The completion of this self-assessment has taken us one step further in our supply chain transparency journey, providing us with the ability to bridge the gap between the beginning and end of the textile value chain. We now have a deeper understanding of the environmental performance of our dissolving wood pulp operations, relative to this value chain benchmark and see the opportunity to use the Higg FEM tool to support continuous improvement discussions and strategies.”

About Sappi

A global leader in dissolving wood pulp and paper-based solutions, Sappi Limited (listed on the JSE - SAP), is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa; has over 12,000 employees; manufacturing facilities on three continents, in nine countries (ten operations in Europe, three operations in America and five operations in South Africa) and customers in over 150 countries worldwide

Sappi works closely with customers to provide relevant and sustainable dissolving wood pulp, paper (speciality, packaging and graphic), paper pulp, and biomaterial products and related services and innovations. Our market-leading range of paper products includes: flexible packaging, label, release liner, containerboard and fluting, coated fine papers, casting release papers and in our Southern African region newsprint, uncoated graphic and business papers. These products serve the fashion, FMCG and industrial sectors. Our dissolving wood pulp products are used worldwide by converters to produce viscose fibre, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of household and consumer products.

We continue to grow into a profitable and cash-generative diversified business with an exciting future in woodfibre, a renewable resource.

About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition:

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide group of over 250 leading apparel, footwear, and textile, brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, nonprofits/ NGOs, and academic institutions working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of products around the world. Through multi-stakeholder engagement, the SAC seeks to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built upon a common approach for measuring and evaluating apparel, footwear, and textile product sustainability performance that spotlights priorities for action and opportunities for technological innovation. The SAC was incorporated as a 501c(6) nonprofit organization and launched the groundbreaking Higg Index suite of tools in 2011.