The City of Cape Town has signed a declaration to become a Supporting Member of The South African Plastics Pact, launched in Cape Town on 30 January 2020. With this move, the City became the first municipality worldwide to sign a national plastics pact.
The SA Plastics Pact is a national initiative spearheaded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-SA), with the support of the South African Plastics Recycling Organisation (SAPRO) and our international partner Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
The pact is officially supported by the National Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF). The City of Cape Town is delighted to become the first municipality not just in the country, but world-wide to pledge its support.
The pact aims to change the way plastic products and packaging are designed, used and reused to prevent plastics from ending up in the environment, and sets out some ambitious targets to be met by 2025, including:
- 100% of plastic packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable (in a closed loop system)
- 70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled
- 30% average post-consumer recycled content across all plastic packaging
The first target, however, is to define a list of problematic/unnecessary plastic packaging and products and agree on measures to address these 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.
‘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,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.
‘It’s encouraging to see the growing shift towards more sustainable consumer choices globally, with society generally becoming more aware of the environmentally damaging effects of single-use plastics and excessive packaging. The SA Plastics Pact marks an important step closer to seeing greater success in this space locally, and the City is looking forward to playing its part in realizing the goals contained in it,’ said Alderman Limberg.
‘Globally, the sentiment is that we need to move towards a circular economy for plastics. We can no longer take, make and dispose of plastic. There is an urgent need to keep plastic in the economy and out of the natural environment. It’s a huge challenge globally, but if all stakeholders collaborate and work towards achieving the targets, we can tackle it and eventually win the war,’ said Councillor Nicky Rheeder.
‘In order to meet this goal there is a need for innovative ideas that will help to unlock barriers to circularity, and stimulate new business and job creation opportunities. The SA Plastic Pact provides this positive platform and opportunity for this innovation, dialogue and collaboration,’ said Councillor Rheeder.
‘It goes beyond Cape Town being a signatory to the pact. We need common national targets and action to effectively address the problem, a goal which the pact should contribute to achieving,’ added Alderman Limberg.
The pact, a first for Africa, joins the global Plastics Pact Network, coordinated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, with existing members from Chile, France, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Its founding members include the majority of the largest retailers, as well as a number of key brand-owners, manufacturers and recyclers in South Africa.
The City would like to encourage manufacturers, brand owners, and other industry roleplayers, who would like to come on board, to contact info@saplasticspact.org.za. Follow the latest developments on LinkedIn: #SAPlasticsPact