The plastics and packaging industries of South Africa, represented by have both welcomed the announcement made by Ms Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environment­­, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) to scrap the existing Section 28 plan for developing an Industry Waste Management Plan (IndWMP) for the paper and packaging industry.

Although the development of this plan has already been more than three years in the making, Minister Creecy announced in December that she would be starting an entirely new process under Section 18, as this would allow for an industry-managed plan as opposed to a government-managed plan.

Admitting that the Minister’s announcement came as a surprise, Shabeer Jhetam, Executive Director of Packaging SA, said that they welcomed the Minister’s insight and decision.

“Despite the fact that a considerable amount of time, money and effort have been invested to prepare and submit our Federation of Plans which represented the entire packaging industry, we believe the Minister has made the right decision. Through our engagements with her over the past few months, we were able to introduce her to the excellent work done by the various packaging streams through their various producer responsibility organisations.”

These organisations are all industry-funded and managed. They are focussed on growing the collection and recycling of the various packaging streams in order to demonstrate their members’ commitment to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

“As a result of their consistent and concerted efforts South Africa has managed to grow its recycling figures on a yearly basis over the past 10 years to become one of the world leaders in mechanical recycling. We are sending less material to landfill thanks to lightweighting and progress in developing a circular economy for each industry. A government-managed plan would have had the potential of nullifying these achievements and making it more difficult for these organisations to access the funds needed to fulfil their mandates,” he says.

Commenting on behalf of the plastics industry, Plastics|SA’s Executive Director Anton Hanekom said they too were relieved to learn of the Minister’s decision to develop a new plan, in close consultation with industry representatives.

“We have always advocated for an industry-managed plan where the producers of packaging materials are held responsible for managing their waste through belonging to industry bodies that represent their interests and drive their own recycling and collection efforts. The failure of previous initiatives such as Buyisa e-Bag and Redisa triggered serious warning bells for us and highlighted the need for proper governance, transparency and credibility. For this reason, we agree that the industry be left in charge of their own funds and projects, albeit with very close cooperation and direct accountability to Government,” Anton says.