The awards aim to honour individuals, businesses and organisations that played a significant role in the PET recycling value chain in South Africa during 2015.
In its latest results for 2015, Petco reports that the organisation recycled an additional 15% of post-consumer bottles in comparison to the previous year, with the total PET market growing by 8.5% to 210 000 tonnes. An annual PET recycling rate of 52% of post-consumer bottle PET was achieved and, for the first time, Petco recycled more bottles than those going into landfill.
“PETCO is delighted that for the eleventh successive year, the post-consumerPET bottle-recycling rate has increased, despite two of the biggest falls in oil prices seen in recent years,” says CEO Cheri Scholtz.
“The 1.7 billion PET bottles that were collected across South Africa in 2015, which equates to approximately 4.7 million bottles collected each and every day, sustained over 50 000 income opportunities.”
“The 2016 PETCO Awards is all about celebrating the great innovations, achievements and contributions made by individuals and organisations towards PET recycling within South Africa’s PET sector,” concludes Scholtz.
Awards categories are as follows:
*Best Recycling Information, Awareness and Education Programme-
This award acknowledges projects and initiatives that have been set up toraise awareness on recycling amongst a specific target group. This includesschool-, corporate-, or consumer-focussed programmes.
*Best Product using recycled PET (rPET)–
This award is awarded to the locally-produced product that best reflects acommitment to using rPET
*’Designed for Recycling’ –
This award recognises the organisation that recognises the importance ofproduct design for end-of-life solutions through its manufacture of the most”recyclable” PET product. Brand owners in particular are encouraged to put forward nominations for products that are aligned with PETCO’s D4Rguidelines.
*PETCO Recycling Champion–
This award recognises a successful project or initiative which has delivered greater recycling and/or improved sustainability in waste management. Nominations for this award can be from across the entire PET value chain,from retailers to recyclers, collectors to consumers.
*PET Community Outreach and Upliftment-
This award recognises an individual or organisation whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful business ventures in the PET collection or recycling industry that directly benefit and uplift the communities within which they operate.
*Woman PET-trepreneur-
This award recognises a female entrepreneur whose ingenuity and perseverancehas created and sustained a successful, growing business venture in the PET collection or recycling industry.
*PET-trepreneur-
This award recognises a male entrepreneur whose ingenuity and perseverance has created and sustained a successful, growing business venture in the PET collection or recycling industry.
*PET Recycling Local Authority Initiative- This award recognises a municipality whose quality of service delivery around waste management and recycling is exemplary and a model for other municipalities to follow.
*PETCO’s Small- or Medium-sized Business Champion-
This award recognises an SMME within the PET value chain that has made an outstanding contribution to waste minimisation and/or job creation.
The awards and AGM are scheduled for July 21 at The Venue Green Park, Sandton.