On Thursday, 3 October, GreenCape, in conjunction with the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Interest Group (WMRIG) and the City of Cape Town (CoCT), hosted a First Thursdays event titled, Talking Trash: A Citizen’s Guide. The event was targeted at Capetonian citizens with the purpose of providing clarity on how to best manage their residential waste. The intention of the presentations was to illustrate the following:
- Why packaging is important;
- The social, environmental and economic impacts of waste, and;
- Strategies that Capetonians can implement to better assist the CoCT in its sustainability and resilience journey.
We were delighted that over 130 citizens attended and tackled a chilly night to take part in gaining and sharing information related to the waste sector of the economy.
The event had six industry professionals, from different organisations, presenting on different topics. These included:
- Zaynab Sadan of the WWF provided attendees with an introduction to the recycling labeling problem, and why On Pack Recycling Labels (OPRL) are key to tackling the confusion around recycling. Zaynab also introduced the newly launched OPRL, the features of the OPRL, and which brand owners have adopted the OPRL system.
- Melanie Ludwig of the Organic Recycling Association of South Africa (ORASA) provided attendees with an introduction to the concepts of food waste and wasted food. Melanie also illustrated the impacts of household food waste on people, the environment and the economy.
- Pippa Notten of “The Green House” provided attendees an introduction to the concept of a life cycle assessments and the resource footprints of household food products. Pippa further illustrates the importance of shelf life and the key role packaging has in reducing food waste.
- Quinton Williams of GreenCape provided an introduction to waste pickers and why they are key to South Africa’s recycling and more so household recycling. Quinton further illustrates how waste pickers are treated, how they are affected by poor household waste management.
- Alison Davison of the City of Cape Town’s Solid Waste Department provided an introduction to the initiatives and infrastructure the City has implement to divert waste from landfill, Including: the drop-offs for household recyclable waste, the Think-Twice kerbside collection initiative, and the roll out of home composting bins.
- Sam Smout of GreenCape provided attendees with an introduction to the amount of waste households generate per year. Sam also provided a number of simple strategies that households can implement to play their part in responsible waste management at home.
The event also provided an opportunity to showcase how the CoCT is embracing Pillar 4 of the newly published Resilience Strategy which calls for a collectively, shock ready city through future proofing urban systems and strengthening individual, family and community resilience.
The presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the hyperlinks above..
