The recycling industry has become a significant employer, and its potential to deliver economic and social benefits continues to be powerfully demonstrated by Mpact Recycling, South Africa’s largest paper recycler.
Mpact Recycling, part of the JSE-listed Mpact paper and plastic packaging group, embraces a small business empowerment model by partnering with local entrepreneurs who help to collect recycled paper. Aside from its own operations in major centres around South Africa, Mpact Recycling has helped set up 42 buy-back centres, where traders deliver waste paper for payment. The company also buys additional material from over 100 independent dealers throughout the country.
Mpact Recycling collects approximately 450 000 tonnes per annum of recovered paper, and supplies this recovered fibre to the Group’s paper mills for processing into recycled-based cartonboard and containerboard for sale to South Africa’s packaging industry. By recycling this waste paper Mpact prevents it from being disposed of in landfill sites.
According to the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (PRASA), recycling work presently provides jobs for around 100,000 people in South Africa, many of whom are entrepreneurs and small business owners who rely on finding and selling sustained volumes of recyclable material to earn a living.
“Sustainability is key to our business and this includes contributing to the economy of the country through job creation,” says John Hunt, managing director of Mpact Recycling. “A culture of recycling is emerging within our country which is having a really positive effect on poverty alleviation, enterprise development and economic growth. At the same time, there is the significant environmental benefit of reusing this valuable resource and preventing the landfilling or incineration of used paper.
“In this competitive industry, our main differentiator is that we enable recycling,provide the expertise and equipment necessary for entrepreneurs to start up buy-back centres and provide a secure market for the resale of the material they collect.”
Robertville Recycling, a buy-back centre in Roodepoort, is one such success story. The centre was established by Queen Phashe-Boikanyo some 12 years ago, with the help of Mpact Recycling, which assisted with finding a location and providing training. Today she has five full time employees and is supplied with recyclable material by local collectors who scour the surrounding industrial areas for waste paper, cardboard and plastic.
The Robertville buy-back centre processes about 100 tons of waste paper and cardboard a month, selling it onto Mpact Recycling. This successful recycling business has enabled Phashe-Boikanyo to put all four of her children through school and the oldest two through university. Her eldest daughter is now a pharmacist and the next daughter will soon graduate as a dentist.
Phashe-Boikanyo is optimistic about the future: “This is a good business with the potential to get bigger, because a lot of the paper that is used in people’s homes and offices is still not recycled. I encourage people to start recycling, because it creates jobs and keeps our environment clean. All you have to do is start separating the paper from the other things you throw away and, once you have enough, bring it to an Mpact Recycling buy-back centre.”
Author: Thandokazi Mashalaba from PR Worx.
More Info link:
Twitter:
Facebook:
Images: For high res version/s of Two image/s please contact: PR Worx.
Photo:
CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.
Track Your Press Release HERE:
Check Online Visibility
Verify where this release is currently indexed:
Avoid driver fatigue on the holiday routes this Easter