The South African Plastics Pact sets aspirational targets for the value chain to meet by 2025, and businesses, government, producer responsibility organisations, nongovernmental organisations and retailers are collaborating and developing solutions to ensure plastics are eliminated, reused or recycled, says mass retailer Spar Group packaging manager Devin Galtrey.

SA Plastics Pact members are working to eliminate problematic plastics, reducing the total amount of packaging on supermarket shelves, stimulating innovation and new business models that will help build a stronger recycling system in South Africa.

The initiative has given retailers the opportunity to take concerted action to create sustainable products at scale, says Galtrey.

“This translates to decisions around what we put on the shelves. We are all talking a common language and we are asking what are the most mindful choices that we can make with everyone in mind that deliver socio-economic development and environmental impact, but are also commercially viable,” he adds.

“Over the past two years, and for the first time, we are all on a shared journey and are collaborating to deliver change that will meet the pact’s ambitious 2025 targets [of 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable or recyclable or compostable, 70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled and 30% average recycled content across all plastic packaging].

“These are huge targets that require a massive shift and we will only be able to deliver if we fundamentally rethink the way we design, use and reuse plastic. To achieve this, we need new technologies, new business models and the mobilisation of the entire value chain,” he says.

The SA Plastics Pact is focused on driving a circular economy for plastic, delivering change by tackling plastic waste and pollution at its root.

It is more ambitious and more comprehensive than any other current or previous initiative because it has bold, clear, time-bound circular economy targets for 2025 against which the members report on progress every year, ensuring that this collaboration will drive significant change by 2025, Galtrey avers.

“The plastic waste problem is so big that the government cannot handle it alone. The only way we are going to make a meaningful change is if everyone takes responsibility for the way we use plastic and how we dispose of it,” he says.

Plastic waste is not only an issue in South Africa, and stakeholders worldwide are working together to develop innovative methods to confront the plastic scourge. The Plastics Pact Network is a globally aligned response to plastic waste that connects national and regional initiatives around the world to implement solutions towards a circular plastics economy.

South Africa joined the Plastics Pact Network in August 2019 and members of the SA Plastics Pact are similarly committed to creating a circular economy for plastics, capturing their value to ensure that plastics never become waste, Galtrey says.