South Africa launches progressive project to tackle plastic pollution

Image credit:Ron Lach on Pexels

The multi-year project aims to achieve a systems-level shift in the plastics value chain across South Africa.

Its vision is to contribute to South Africa’s transition toward a thriving, equitable and inclusive circular economy for plastic packaging and short-lived plastic products in the food and beverage sector, which would create well-being for society and the environment.

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The project focuses specifically on upstream and midstream stages of the plastic packaging lifecycle:

• Upstream: Eliminate unnecessary, avoidable, and problematic plastic products and hazardous additives; shift to sustainable alternatives and reuse and refill; and use recycled plastics as feedstock, all of which will displace virgin plastic production.

• Midstream: Support innovation to extend the life of products where plastics are necessary, by creating reusable or recyclable products and by creating circular systems (reuse, refill, repair, resell, repurpose); as well as reducing unnecessary consumption of plastics by consumers and commercial users, especially for short-lived plastic products.

• Downstream: The project will not directly fund downstream activities (among them collection, segregation, recycling, incineration, landfill, disposal of residues, and clean-ups of legacy plastics in the environment), but its upstream and midstream interventions will synergise and complement existing initiatives and projects in this stage.

The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) acting as the international implementation agency.

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In South Africa, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) will be the national focal point, while the national execution agency is WWF South Africa in collaboration with partners, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and GreenCape.