It’s the 4th year running that Safripol has hosted the conference and it has become a key annual event underlining sustainability’s pivotal role in Safripol’s corporate DNA.

The event brings together thought leaders, captains of industry, and EEHs (Everyday Environmental Heroes), to discuss and address the issues in the plastics industry. Last year’s highly successful conference, hosted by Michael Avery, and with 200 delegates in attendance as well as an online audience, outlined the opportunities available to the industry through the power of ‘the five R’s’; Reducing, Reusing, Recycling, Re-thinking, and Repurposing plastics.  

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Let’s plastic responsibly.’ The essence of this theme is simply that we have to accept that plastic is now an integral part of modern life and that we can’t go about our lives as we are used to without it. Although plastic in many cases often has a lower impact on the environment than alternative materials. At the same time, obviously plastic is part of the waste problem. Safripol along with others in the plastics industry and related industries are determined to provide solutions to the problems.

Safripol believes that looking at the full value chain is the basis of creating a truly circular economy, and is critical to achieving true sustainability, significantly lowering the carbon footprint of the industry and greatly reducing plastic waste’s impact on the environment.

As a leading polymer producer in sub-Saharan Africa, Safripol believes that it has a leading role to play in changing behaviours around plastic. That’s why they are already turning words into action.

Safripol has launched its first commercial recycled polymer product under the ASPIRE product range for PET, which is the first one-bag solution rPET product with post-consumer resin (PCR) –  ASPIRE^R. This new product supports the plastic circular economy and is essentially produced from the bottle-to-bottle recycling value chain. The development of Safripol’s recycled polymer portfolio is also aligned with the South African Government’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation which is now in its second year of implementation. Safripol’s  one bag rPET offering allows converters to comply with the requirements for recycled content inclusion for PET beverage bottles. Safripol has commercialized ASPIRE^R 15 (15% PCR rPET content) and ASPIRE^R  25 (25% PCR rPET content).

The company is involved in a whole range of initiatives designed to make a difference. They are encouraging and supporting buy-back centres to make the collection and recycling of plastic waste easier. Clean-up operations have been sponsored nationwide. Separation of plastic at source in its own facilities has been implemented. Litter booms have been installed in rivers to prevent plastic waste from reaching the ocean and ensure that the plastic waste collected is all recycled. Innovative new product development has also seen the recent introduction of a recycled polymer product using post-consumer resin so that plastic that would have ended up in landfills is now more easily used to help make new products.

Perhaps just as important as these initiatives are the drive by Safripol for better understanding and awareness of plastic among the general population. 

Recently the company has launched a new web portal, www.letsplasticresponsibly.com to help South Africa reach its sustainability goals. The idea is to start a movement that encourages all of us to reuse, repurpose and recycle plastic so that it stays out of the environment. This new approach gives South Africa the first platform to bring government initiatives, environmental organisations, corporate companies, communities, schools, and individuals together to tackle the plastic waste issue in unison.

And when minds meet problems get solved. DM