The month of September is dedicated to recycling. Although everyone should adopt recycling as part of their lifestyle, millions are still hesitant to adopt the change. In South Africa, 16 September is officially marked National Recycling Day followed by International Coastal Clean-up on 17 September. In respect of the three R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – recycling is considered one of the easiest things people can do to help preserve the environment and ecosystems; and yet we are nowhere near our full potential in South Africa.

This year saw associations, waste and recycling collection companies, and private sponsors coming together to make Recycling Day a huge success. The selected venue was Centurion – an open spot opposite Kerksondermure at the corner of Hippo Avenue and Hendrik Verwoed. A drop-off and collection site was set-up and the public was invited to bring in their recyclables, where it was sorted according to material type and weighed. The site was open on 16 and 17 September, and more than 2 tonnes of recyclables were brought in from the public. “The response on day one was fantastic,” said Douw Steyn, director of sustainability at the PFSA and chairman of the NRF. “We did hope that the public’s response would have been even better but at least they know, and next year’s event will be even bigger.” The recyclables collected over the two days will go towards supporting a community project identified by Kerksondermure. The aim is to make this initiative an ongoing sustainable project in Centurion. Sponsors for this year’s event were as follows:
• Plastics SA
• Eco-Bin
• Waste Plan
• Red Design
• Luan de Beer
• RA Print
• Kerksondermure
• MyWaste
• antalis