PETCO, the organization responsible for fulfilling the South African PET plastic industry’s role of Extended Producer Responsibility, is proud to announce their 2016 recycling figures which indicate an increase in their annual PET recycling rate from 52% of post-consumer bottle PET in 2015 to 55% in 2016, exceeding their expected target for the second consecutive year. The organisation recycled...

Plastics packaging recycling rates have increased, according to a survey commissioned by the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC). The APC commissioned Envisage Works and Sustainable Resource Use (SRU) to undertake the 2015-16 National Recycling and Recovery Survey (NRRS) for plastics packaging. The survey results show an improved plastics packaging recycling rate of 31.1 per cent, up from the...

Is Africa the western world’s dumping ground? Electronic waste from Australia was recently found at Agbogbloshie landfill site halfway across the world in Ghana. ABC reported that a computer screen was being pulled apart by children as young as five at the site. According to the report, children in Ghana are said to “tear apart e-waste from western nations with their hands, and burn...

More than sustainable: PVC proves its environmental credentials through use of recycled material Dr. Jeff Ryan, Technical Director at Dugdale Ltd, discusses why PVC is proving it sustainability credentials, as well as why recycling PVC makes good business sense.  Anyone visiting the world’s triennial plastics fair, K 2016 in Düsseldorf last year can have been left in no doubt that the PVC...

After a polarizing 2016, consumers are ready to embrace more optimistic, unifying experiences. Does your packaging engage and empower consumers by addressing the issues important to them? In 2017, brands should, and will, take a decidedly more optimistic tone as they become a unifier for fatigued American consumers. During the second half of 2016—beginning with the Rio Summer...

As the general manager of market development for Food Innovation Australia (FIAL), Najib Lawand had some fresh insights to share on exports at Auspack’s National Technical Forums. Australia’s supermarket heavyweights are in competition for the best price, but when it comes to reaching the Asian market, price is less important than product variety. “With exporting it’s a race to come up with...

PAMSA’s industry report, Paper in Perspective 2016, tells a number of stories – the economic story, the sustainability story and the recycling story. It also delves into PAMSA’s efforts in the education, training and research space, and entrepreneurship training for recycling collectors. Paper in Perspective 2016 is a one-stop guide to the South African pulp and paper making industry, its...

South Africa’s paper recycling rates match up to many developed economies. The volume of paper and paper packaging recovered globally for recycling has increased substantially over the past decade. In 2000, the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (PRASA) reported a 38% paper recovery rate, rising to 59% in 2011. The association had projected paper recycling rates to increase to...

RecycleReady Technology, invented by The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, MI), is a sustainable packaging option for flexible films that offers a variety of barrier properties with the additional benefit of recyclability. Packaging with RecycleReady Technology can be integrated into the recycling stream through pre-existing store drop-offs at end of life. As a custom manufacturer of flexible...

China’s General Administration of Customs announced it will launch the one-year campaign, which will target “foreign waste,” including plastics, industrial waste, electronics and other household waste materials. The effort is part of a larger initiative some are translating into English as “National Sword 2017,” which is also targeting the smuggling, particularly by organized crime, of...