The City of Cape Town became the first municipality in the world to sign a plastic pact and pledged to do what they can to save the planet.
The South African Plastics Pact is an initiative by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to work towards diminishing waste and pollution caused by plastic.
The aims of the South African Plastic Pact
The WWF estimated that of all the plastic produced each year, an estimated eight million tonnes of it leaks into the ocean. If unchanged, there may be more plastic than fish in the ocean, by weight, by 2050.
According to the City of Cape Town, the pact — launched in January 2020 — aims to change the way products and packaging are designed, used and reused to prevent it from ending up in the natural environment.
The Pact
Coordinated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, The South African Plastics Pact is a pre-competitive platform of industry-led innovation to rethink the way we design, use and reuse the harmful material.
The pact has been developed in partnership with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the South African Plastics Recycling Organisation (SAPRO) and is supported by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Pact network.
Targets to be met by 2025 include:
- 100% of plastic packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable (in a closed-loop system);
- 70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled; and
- 30% average post-consumer recycled content across all plastic packaging.
The first target is to define a list of unnecessary packaging and products and agree on measures to address them as a top priority. This will be effected through a coordinated effort led by a steering committee comprised of the pact’s founding members and GreenCape — the pact’s newly appointed secretariat.
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Founding members
According to Getaway Magazine, these are the founding members of the South African Plastics Pact:
- The Clicks Group;
- Coca-Cola Africa;
- Danone;
- Distell;
- HomeChoice;
- Massmart;
- Myplas;
- Nampak Rigids;
- Pick n Pay;
- Polyoak;
- Polyplank;
- Shoprite Group;
- SPAR;
- Spur Holdings;
- The Foschini Group;
- Tigerbrands;
- Tuffy;
- Unilever;
- ADDIS;
- Waste Plan
- Woolworths
Cape Town vows to phase out single-use plastic
The city of Cape Town would like to encourage manufacturers, brand owners, and other industry roleplayers who would like to come on board, to contact info@saplasticspact.org.za
The City’s role, as a supporting member, is to contribute to the development of solutions, amplify anti-plastic messages and cascade best practice. While the City can’t in its own capacity make commitments towards achieving the pact’s targets, it fully supports the initiative and its embedded principles. Goals, however, will not be achieved without collaborative industry action,”
City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste, Alderman Xanthea Limberg
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In the Garden Route a Knysna Teenager takes the lead against plastic pollution.
In the Western Cape, South Africa… Knysna specifically, there is a young person with vision, passion and drive, who is making a difference. Her name is Sahara, a 17 year old who lives in Rheenendal, just outside scenic Knysna.
Here is her inspiring story:-
I was homeschooled for all my schooling years and completed my high school matric last year at the age of 16. I live and grew up with my whole extended family (mom, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, dogs, cats, chickens and now goats!) on a small holding in Rheenendal. I have always been surrounded by nature and my passion for the planet was sparked at a very early age when I made the connection that our actions could have severe negative consequences on the environment and I decided I wanted to create change in the way we live with nature.
At the age of 8 years I decided I wanted to be president, so that I could create that change, and in my very young mind I thought that was the only way people would ever listen to what I had to say. Now though, after going through quite a journey, discovering and learning so much and now creating my own initiatives, I realise that you really don’t need to be in a position of power, (you don’t even need to be an adult!) to stand up for what you believe and let your voice be heard.
Projects organised by Sahara Thagunna
Knysna Unlittered:
The Unlittered project is a partnership between Sahara Thagunna, Knysna Basin Project, SANparks Honorary Rangers, The Strandloper’s Project, Ocean Odyssey and others.
On Friday 8 February a volunteer group of more than 20 people picked up more than 25 bags at the Island Adventure Cleanup.
Join the Unlittered Project on Facebook here
What the Bag
“What the Bag” is an initiative to inspire, motivate and create change with a focus on plastic, and single use plastic bags in particular. Reusable cloth shopping bags are sewn from donated, old, unused and unwanted fabric and then handed out for free.
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Earth Chats
Earth Chats is a new show that will be published every Wednesday. Earth Chats is hosted by Sahara Thagunna, a teenage Environmental Activist, who will be chatting to inspiring guests who have a passion for anything earth related.
Earth chats is produced and distributed by BMDM Digitial
