JG Afrika (Pty) Ltd was appointed by Packaging SA, a voluntary body that represents the lion’s share of the value chain of the country’s paper and packaging sector, to develop an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Plan in response to the Department of Environmental Affairs’ (DEA) call for an Industry Waste Management Plan.
This project has again provided JG Afrika (Pty) Ltd the opportunity to demonstrate the extent of its skills and capabilities in waste management. In addition to Industry Waste Management Plans (IWMP), these include e-waste, healthcare waste and incineration, as well as all types of landfill and organic waste-treatment process design, non-organic waste-process design and waste characterisation and classification.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) makes importers of packaging, along with local converters, producers, manufacturers and brand owners of packages, accountable for the entire life cycle of their products.
The plan put forward by JG Afrika (Pty) Ltd proposes that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees should be charged on a Rand per tonne basis according to the material stream that is placed on the market, thereby stimulating the design and manufacture of more environmentally friendly materials that will optimise their recyclability.
Importantly, the plan determines the steps that need to be taken to transition South Africa towards a more circular economy that addresses the waste hierarchy and redesigns complex materials.
It also follows a more people-centric approach that is ideally suited to unique local socio-economic conditions and is aligned to government policies, such as the National Development Plan (NDP). In so doing, the EPR plan, therefore, outlines a means of creating many employment and income opportunities to drive transformation by developing supplementary material markets over the longer term.
Packaging SA and the PROs, together with various government departments, will provide the governance and management structures needed to successfully administer the entire recycling value chain.