Should glass recovery and recycling be a retailer imperative?

Despite being 100% recyclable, just 20% (140 000 tons) of all glass containers produced annually are retrieved for recycling in South Africa, which is relatively poor when compared to international rates. The recycling rate in the Netherlands is sitting at 90%; the Australian benchmark at 50%; the UK on 45% and Brazil is holding firm at 40%, which is a clear indication that something has to be done to dramatically improve this country's recovery and recycling of waste glass.

Partnership

The Glass Recycling Company has effectively been born from a partnership between National Government, glass manufacturers, fillers (users of glass to package their products), and recyclers in its efforts to increase the recycling rate from 20% to 50% within the next five years. The aim is to protect the environment and create income generation opportunities for historically disadvantaged South Africans in particular.

According to The Glass Recycling Company's GM, Shabeer Jhetam, a man who comes from a recycling background, for recycling to be a success, everyone has to participate in each phase of the process. He adds that the FMCG retailer market is not exempt from this and stresses that it has a huge role to play in helping with the recycling drive.

Jhetam cites glass bank placement at shopping centres and becoming a member of The Glass Recycling Company as the most immediate ways in which retailers can play a role.

"By lobbying on our behalf with landlords of shopping centres for placements, retailers can help us with the development of our collection footprint. Of course by becoming a member of The Glass Recycling Company and paying the incumbent levies, retailers are giving back to the community through good corporate citizenship and have the opportunity to offer strategic support to the company," says Jhetam.

"Further to this, we are calling for all importers of glass to declare these volumes. This glass will automatically be included in our recycling quotas and to this end we need to secure levies to cover the cost of our recovery efforts."

Promotes and educates

This non-profit organisation does not recycle the glass itself - rather it promotes and educates about the importance of the recovery of waste glass for recycling, linked to the need to protect the environment.

"Environmental protection and ecotourism is the responsibility of every citizen and by recycling glass; energy, water and other non-renewable natural resources are preserved. By way of example: the energy saving from recycling one bottle will power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour; a washing machine for 10 minutes; a TV for 20 minutes and a computer for 25 minutes. Added to this, glass is infinitely recyclable and does not affect the quality or integrity of the new product," explains Jhetam.

"Glass only accounts for 4.7% of the country's total waste and about 550 000 tons of waste glass finds its way into landfills in South Africa annually. Through The Glass Recycling Company, we aim to minimise wastage of glass, and promote its sustainable recycling to protect our environment. Strategic imperatives include growth in glass recovery and recycling; job creation; environmental protection; prevention of detrimental legislation on glass packaging; and create synergies with NGOs, CBOs and other organisations," adds Jhetam.

"We are aiming to have additional glass banks at strategic locations throughout the country commencing March 2007. The banks will facilitate the recovery of waste glass from urban consumers and city dwellers. On the other hand, there are opportunities for glass collection to yield an alternative income stream for the unemployed. In this instance, the collector of the cullet (waste glass) would be reimbursed for the recovery by a local dealer of waste glass, or by the more established entrepreneur," says Jhetam.

Set up entrepreneurs

The Glass Recycling Company has a mandate to set up new entrepreneurs - throughout South Africa - who will pay for any waste glass that is brought to them for recycling.

"Our initial imperative is job creation in the formal and informal sectors. The Glass Recycling Company intends to set up at least 80 entrepreneurs annually, which in turn will see at least 4000 new informal jobs created annually. Conservatively there are already at least 100 existing entrepreneurs throughout the country who have already created in the region of 5000 informal jobs through the collection of waste glass," says Jhetam.

But adds Jhetam, "Research shows that collectors will only recover glass for a period of about three months and thereafter they either find more formal employment or become involved in other forms of self-employment. This creates a huge challenge for The Glass Recycling Company and will in turn require the constant recruiting of new collectors by this non-profit company.

"We are therefore calling on retailers (large and small), corporates, religious and community organisations, schools and consumers of glass to help us by making recycling part of their daily routine," concludes Jhetam.

For more info, go to www.theglassrecyclingcompany.co.za.

The Glass Recycling Company shareholders - all from the glass industry - include:

• Consol
  
• Nampak Wiegand Glass
  
• KWV SA
  
• Nestle
  
• Paarlvallei Bottelering Maatskappy
  
• Coca-Cola Fortune
  
• Coca-Cola South Africa
  
• Peninsula Beverage Company
  
• Scarlet Ibis Investment 3
  
• Diageo South Africa
  
• Distell Limited
  
• South African Breweries (SAB)
  
• Tiger Brands Limited
  
• Appeltiser SA
  
• Breeriviervallei Bottelerings Koöperasie Beperk
  
• Ceres Fruit Juices
  
• DGB Limited
  
• Edward Snell and Company Limited and
  
• The Company of Wine People