Cleaning up the nearly 20 000kg of waste from the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town last weekend was no sweat for Nampak Liquid and Plastics SA. Together, they supported the extensive cleanup operations that form part of the event’s successful management strategy.
In line with their commitments, Nampak Liquid supplied 136 000 250ml HDPE bottles and Plastics SA employed 110 people to help cleanup the Chapman’s Peak leg, which is a marine conservation area. At the same time, Nampak Corrugated provided 1 000 cardboard bins and Nampak Recycling spearheaded an awareness campaign to stop runners from littering along the 56km route. Nampak Tissue also included Cuddlers’ wet wipes in the runners’ registration bags. All waste was also sorted for recycling. According to Waste Plan, who is responsible for the event’s comprehensive waste management programme, the recycling rate was 84% in 2010, 88% in 2011 and 89% in 2012. The marathon’s total waste-to-landfill and total waste-to-recycling statistics are as follows:2012 | 2011 | 2010 | |
| Waste-to-landfill | |||
| General waste | 1 604kg | 2 380kg | 1 500kg |
| Total waste-to-landfill | 1 604kg (11%) | 2 380kg (12%) | 1 500kg (17%) |
| Waste-to-recycling | |||
| Glass | 2 891kg | 3 747kg | 1 580kg |
| Cardboard K4 | 2 049kg | 2 656kg | 1 120kg |
| Metal cans | 2 232kg | 2 893kg | 1 220kg |
| Plastic PET | 723kg | 937kg | 395kg |
| Plastic PE-LD | 2 175kg | 2 820kg | 1 189kg |
| Plastic PE-HD | 1 297kg | 1 681kg | 709kg |
| Paper common mix | 854kg | 1 107kg | 467kg |
| Paper newspapers | 335kg | 434kg | 183kg |
| Plastic PP | 421kg | 545kg | 230kg |
| Total waste-to-recycling | 12 976kg (89%) | 16 820kg (88%) | 7 093kg (83%) |
