World Environment Day on 5 June will be hosted in Africa for only the third time in the 51 years since its inception, this time by Cote d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) in partnership with the Netherlands. The event will be attended by environmental ministers and leaders from across the globe.
The UN’s biggest annual environmental event, World Environment Day, is aimed at deepening environmental awareness and addressing concerns such as the depletion of the ozone layer, toxic chemicals, desertification and global warming. This year’s imperative is to find solutions for the disposal of non-biodegradable plastic waste, one of the biggest threats to the survival of the planet, its oceans and sea life, bird life, the human species and all natural environments.
The cause being the more than 400 million tons of plastic produced every year, with half of that quantity designed to be used only once, of which less than 10 per cent is recycled. An estimated 19-23 million tons end up in lakes, rivers and seas annually, a rate expected to triple by 2040. While inland, plastic continues to clog our landfills and is combusted into toxic smoke, making it one of the gravest threats to people and the planet.
Threat to humans
Plastics create greenhouse gas emissions across their whole life cycle. And because plastic is predominantly produced from oil and gas, both of which are fossil fuels, the more plastic we make, the more fossil fuel is required, so the more we intensify the climate crisis.
But what is less known is that micro-plastics find their way into the food we eat, the water we drink and even the air we breathe. It is estimated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50 000 plastic particles per year – and many more if inhalation is considered. Many plastic products also contain hazardous additives, which are an additional threat to our survival.
In South Africa the plastics threat is being taken seriously, with the whole of June marked as World Environment Month. But how well are we doing so far in our disposal of plastics and recycling efforts? We are told that recycling in SA has started to recover since the first year of Covid in 2020, but has not yet reached the levels of 2019. Part of the reason being that, as in all other sectors, recyclers were hit by the economic challenges of load-shedding and the increasing cost of transport.
“SA may not yet have reached the level of western countries that are equipped to recycle everything, but we’re getting there!” said Erica Stemmet who, with husband Louis, runs one of the Breede Valley’s leading recycling plants that process the waste from the recycle bag one leaves outside one’s gate each week.
But how can South Africa reduce its plastic waste? The first obvious necessity is to avoid manufacturing single-use types of plastic, which can and must be replaced with sustainable alternatives.
And then for every member of the public to understand the crucial importance of recycling domestic-use plastics rather than throwing everything into the garbage to end up in our already overloaded toxic landfills.
Financial benefits for the economy
Plastics are key to the supply chains of strategic areas of the economy, such as the healthcare, energy generation, agricultural, aerospace, automotive, maritime, construction, mining and engineering, and electronic sectors. While across the board, plastic is of course also used extensively in the domestic and agricultural sectors. And of course by the clothing industry. So if your fleece-lined jacket label says 100% polyester it can mean that you’re wearing 100% recycled water bottles!
“It is just mind-blowing how much plastic is being recycled but still the majority of plastic ends up in landfills,” says Erica Stemmet.
“But there is money to be made by collecting plastic waste too. Many collectors salvage discarded plastics by the truck-full and take them to established recycling plants. While at the smaller end of the scale unemployed members of the community can benefit from the points system offered by a local church here in Worcester that gives out money-valued points for recyclable waste which can be exchanged for tea and coffee, school pencils and a variety of essentials.”
However, she cautions, “nobody likes to collect stuff that smells unpleasant and is difficult to clean”, so householders dumping plastic are asked to wash or rinse out containers before putting them in recycle bags or bins.”
South Africa speaks
According to a 2021 survey South Africa converted 1 904 924 tons of polymer into plastic products that year. Recycling presents an opportunity to reduce petrochemical usage and carbon dioxide emissions, according to environmentalists.
Many are ecstatic that science and technology have created solutions to tackle this particular challenge.
What many say is needed most now is a surge of public and political pressure to speed-up action from governments, companies and other stakeholders to solve this crisis.
Says Louis Stemmet: “The effects of global warming are becoming more and more evident, directly influenced by the sheer volume of plastics produced and used daily. But every little recycling effort we make helps reduce the risk of global warming.” So meeting the UN’s 2030 target seems possible.
