Audited data from plastics producer responsibility organisation Petco of 2022 collections and recycling shows that several major South African brands are meeting targets when it comes to collecting and recycling the plastic packaging in which their products are sold and keeping it out of the environment.

In 2022, Petco members placed 121 369 t of packaging on the South African market, comprising mainly polyethylene terephthalate (PET) beverage bottles, home and personal care bottles, edible oil bottles, food bottles and jars, plus their associated labels and closures, as well as minor volumes of PET strapping, shrink sleeves and thermoforms.

Of this volume, 69%, or 83 967 t, of post-consumer packaging was collected for recycling, with a total recycling rate of 66% achieved, the organisation said.

Petco's members include Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Unilever, Tiger Brands, Twizza, The Beverage Company, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, besides others.

Further, Petco’s financial support for one of its contracted recycling partners facilitated the availability of 25 000 t of food-grade recycled PET (rPET) for inclusion in new product packaging, helping the broader sector to meet its recycled content targets.

"The data also reveals that Petco helped its members to surpass the first-year government targets for collecting PET beverage bottles, plastic PET oil bottles, single-use PET products covering home, food and personal care, and polyolefin rigids," the organisation said.

The release of the results comes one year after the promulgation of the amended National Environmental Management Waste Act, and its regulations requiring that packaging producers, including brand owners, retailers and importers, comply with stipulated yearly targets for the improved design, collection and recycling of post-consumer product packaging in a bid to move the country towards a more circular economy.

In 2022 and on behalf of its members, Petco invested R54.9-million in support of the collection and recycling value chain, helping to improve the integration of the informal collection sector, increase the street value of recyclable waste and build the capacity of its contracted recycling partners.

Petco played a role in driving change across the packaging value chain towards a circular economy in which packaging can be repurposed back into packaging, said Petco CEO Cheri Scholtz.

“The results we have achieved are owing to the commitment of our members. We appreciate their partnership and inputs in navigating this new extended producer responsibility (EPR) space together,” she said.

Meanwhile, Petco had developed a new, more robust EPR declaration system to simplify the reporting process for members.

“To report more accurately on the various identified products for which we have enabled the collection, Petco undertook a bale characterisation study to better understand the typical composition of a PET bale, which is bought by our contracted recyclers.

“Through our member declarations, regular recycler audits and bale sampling assessments, we are able to report with greater granularity. This assists us to meet our Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment reporting requirements, and shows our diverse membership how we are tracking their particular identified products,” said Scholtz.

This year, Petco also introduced an EPR scheme for liquid board packaging (LBP), which will be included in the reporting for the second year of government's targets.

“In offering an EPR scheme for LBP, we see immediate synergies for a number of our members that already sell products in both PET and LBP. We also know that the waste streams within which we work are not exclusive to PET and, as such, expanding our focus to include LBP is relatively simple for our teams in the field.

“In year two, we will continue with our member engagement workshops and work closely with our members for higher impact. Petco remains committed to working with our members and all tiers of government to achieve EPR regulatory targets and to enable our members to meet their EPR and their own reporting requirements. We will continue to lead the implementation of EPR in South Africa,” Scholtz confirmed.