GLOBAL RECYCLING DAY

Global Recycling Day was held on 18 March 2025. More than 13 million tonnes of paper and paper packaging have been recovered for recycling in South Africa over the past decade, according to the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA). This has saved nearly 40 million cubic metres of landfill space, and put paper and cardboard back into the recycling loop as a useful raw material in paper packaging and tissue manufacturing.

In 2024, the South African paper recycling industry recovered 1.2 million tonnes of paper products from an available pool of 1.95 million tonnes of recyclable products such as magazines, brochures, newspapers, corrugated boxes, paper bags and office paper. Greater awareness and action will drive a culture of separating household waste from recyclables:

*Keep rubbish and recyclables in separate bins so that paper and cardboard will not get wet;

*Recycle office/copy paper, brown cardboard boxes, grocery and takeaway bags, cereal, pizza, egg and medicine boxes, magazines and newspapers, moulded fibre cup holders, cores from toilet rolls and kitchen towels, milk and juice cartons;

*Do not recycle tissue and toilet paper, kitchen towel, wax paper, nappies, soggy and dirty paper plates.

*Remove items such as staples, metal spirals and plastic windows before recycling;

*Recycling collectors will collect paper products, soft drink cans, tin cans and plastic bottles. Put these out separately for them;

*Some shopping malls have a recycling zone where consumers can drop off their recyclables.

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