Producer responsibility organisation Petco said its member companies have met the legislated targets for 99% of the tonnage of identified products placed on the market by members in 2024.

The organisation’s 29 member companies, which include major brands such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Tiger Brands and Tetra Pak, represent most of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic beverage bottles and liquid board packaging (LBP) placed onto the South African market.

Petco is pleased to have met the targets set by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment for the identified products registered with the organisation, Petco CEO Telly Chauke says.

“Our new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for LBP saw us achieve a more than 200% increase in its collection and recycling rate in 2024. In only our second year of administering a scheme for these cartons, we have collected and recycled three times the volume compared to 2023,” she points out.

The significant leap in LBP collection and recycling rates was a validation of Petco’s operating model, which is based on building sustainable value chains for the post-consumer packaging for which the organisation administers schemes.

According to its newly released audited data, Petco’s efforts saved 76 000 m³ of South Africa’s scarce landfill space in 2024, and the recyclable packaging diverted would fill 2 324 standard 6 m shipping containers.

“Our model, which is informed by 20 years’ experience as an industry body, has seen us grow the collection for recycling of post-consumer PET bottles and jars from 16% of those placed on market in 2005 to nearly 76% of what our members place on the market today.

“With more than 70% of our members’ PET bottles and jars now successfully recycled, our goal is to achieve similar results for LBP in the long term,” she says.

Following the implementation of mandatory EPR legislation three years ago, Petco had also met the yearly collection targets for PET bottles and jars, and their associated closures and labels, and increased these rates year-on-year, she adds.

Since 2023, when Petco introduced an EPR scheme for LBP, strategic industry-driven infrastructure investments have seen LBP collection triple from 8% to 24% and recycling rates triple from 8% each to 26%.

Meanwhile, a key focus for 2024 was partnering with packaging company Tetra Pak in the deployment of a team of buyback centre liaison officers and regional recycling officers to enhance the collection and recycling of LBP nationwide, Chauke says.

Serving as contact points to strengthen linkages between buyback centres, waste pickers, municipal authorities and industry stakeholders, the team’s role is to address regional collection challenges and foster local solutions, she explains.

“Petco has a dedicated team on the ground to ensure the flow of materials to our recyclers, which is part of our value proposition to members,” she adds.

Additionally, this team conducted more than 200 on-site activations last year at buyback centres in all provinces, where they met with waste pickers and business owners to demonstrate the value of collecting LBP.

As a composite material, LBP’s recycled material output comprises 75% paperboard, and 25% poly-aluminium, the latter of which can be turned into innovative end-uses such as school desks, and low-cost building materials, Chauke says.

Petco’s partnership-based approach involved unlocking the feedstock for these recyclers by providing support for collection on the ground, growing end-use demand for the recycled materials and encouraging the development of recycling capacity.

Additionally, Petco spent R70-million in 2024 on financial support for the value chain, which enabled its contracted recycling partners to buy about R470-million in post-consumer packaging materials from small businesses.

This creates monetary value in collecting materials, enabling the money to flow down the value chain to waste pickers, she highlights.

“We recognise that small, medium-sized and microenterprises form an integral part of the value chain and are the gateway to unlocking greater tonnages of better quality, post-consumer recyclable packaging.

“Therefore, we provide support, often in partnership with municipalities or corporate entities, offering equipment, mentorship and training to capacitate these businesses to grow.”

In addition to improving collections, the work Petco does in supporting small businesses also begins to unlock economic advantages for the economically marginalised, thereby contributing to government's goal of socioeconomic development, she adds.

Also in 2024, Petco trained more than 4 700 beneficiaries at recycling awareness workshops and accredited business training sessions countrywide and provided equipment support to 47 small businesses.

Petco has also partnered with 59 municipalities from district to local level to support their waste management efforts.

“Working with government is a key aspect of the Petco model because it helps to scale and maintain sustainable initiatives.

“By providing support for separation-at-source projects and infrastructure development, we assist municipalities to discharge their duty, so that our producers can meet their obligations and investment can thrive,” Chauke says.

“Growth is driving Petco to grow our footprint, our technical abilities and capacity to grow South Africa’s circular economy, while keeping valuable recyclable packaging out of the environment and landfills.

“We aim to be ambitious not only in executing our existing mandate but in growing that mandate to add more value to our members,” she says.