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recyclinglatest news & developments
Informal waste pickers are responsible for processing more than 80% of South Africa’s recycled materials, which is an extraordinary contribution to the economy and environment. Photo: Mark Lewis

National emergency: The urban models turning waste into opportunity

An innovative project for informal waste pickers in Cape Town demonstrates how empowerment and a circular economy can make a difference

Join Sneaker LAB in Protecting Hout Bay on World Cleanup Day

On World Cleanup Day on 20 September 2025, Sneaker LAB and Sentinel Ocean Alliance are inviting Cape Town to join a Hout Bay cleanup. Sneaker LAB, the Cape Town-born global…

African countries, including South Africa, have limited waste infrastructure and uneven water treatment systems, which exacerbates the problem of antibiotic resistance. Photo: Sustainable Seas Trust

Beyond the bin: Rethinking bioplastic waste for a circular future

Stellenbosch University has developed a process involving enzymes that can break down bioplastics

Recycle rather than expand or build more landfills.

Ubuntu can help achieve the dream of zero landfill

Our waste-management sites are filling up fast, with serious health and environmental consequences

About 20% of global water waste and 10% of global carbon emissions are produced by the fashion industry, according to United Nations Environment Programme estimates

Upcycle for a greener fashion industry – but beware intellectual property infringement

Upcyclers must ensure that their activities comply with IP laws to avoid legal challenges from trade mark owners who may claim infringement of their brand

MEC Mbali Hlophe wants every household in the province to embrace the idea of food security.

Creating food security through training, technology and the establishment of Buy-Back Centres for recycling waste

Initiatives by the Gauteng Department of Social Development, Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment

A Unimog sponsored by Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa for the Clean Surf Project, an NGO dedicated to cleaning up the country’s shores.

CCBSA, local communities join forces to help create a World Without Waste

The goal is for every package to have more than one life

Informal recycling gives people a sense of purpose and fulfilment and contributes hugely to recycling in the country.

How informal recyclers view their work

Informal recycling gives people a sense of purpose and fulfilment and contributes hugely to recycling in the country

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa CEO Jacques Vermeulen (right) engages with Professor Manoj Chiba (left) at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) on the circular economy. (Photo: Kofi Zwana)

Towards a world without waste

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa invests in circular economy to promote employment and environmental good

Samsung – Bringing FOUR New Ways to Live Sustainably

Focusing on Recycled Materials, Eco-Packaging, Energy Efficiency and Recycling/Upcycling

It’s time to draw the line on waste

How separation at source will protect our environment and support the economy

The Sweethearts Foundation’s collectors operate all over the country, from schools to offices and homes.
Photo credit: The Sweethearts Foundation.

Turning plastic bottle tops and bread tags into wheelchairs

The Sweethearts Foundation sells the plastic to recyclers and buys wheelchairs

Passionate: Carmen Jordaan is the owner of Whole Earth Recycling in Johannesburg

Complacency is the enemy in waste recycling

South Africa is running out of landfill space for our solid waste, which also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions – but the good news is we can easily be part of the solution

How an African artist turns electronic waste to works of art

Mounou Désiré Koffi is bringing attention to the world’s e-waste menace by using dead cell phone keyboards in his art.

(Mladen ANTONOV / AFP) (Photo by MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Plastic waste is a planetary crisis

A United Nations meeting in Kenya is a step towards developing a legally binding global treaty that will decisively tackle plastic pollution

Green winner: A project by learners Ncihana Junior Secondary School in Elliotdale included reestablishing a school garden, which incorporated recycling and using grey water.

Eastern Cape learners’ project feeds school children

A youth empowerment programme has seen an increased interest in climate and environment issues.

Hands-on: The Green School South Africa uses the outdoors as an extension of the classroom to teach subjects in the curriculum such as science and maths. Photo: David Harrison

Africa’s first green school ‘cultivates a love of nature’

The Paarl campus of Green School South Africa uses solar power and climate-smart water management systems.

Gauteng’s top police brass are leading an operation near the Goudkoppies landfill site where bodies have been piling up, with nine murders in the past two weeks

Residents warned City of Joburg about deadly Goudkoppies landfill years before murders

The residents live less than 500 metres from the landfill and have, for several years, complained to the city’s various entities.

Good idea: Welwitschia Primary School has implemented a successful waste management project. (GrowZA)

Western Cape schools benefit from zero waste project

The initiative provides schools with a toolkit to reduce the waste they send to landfills by recycling more effectively

The “hard-fought” negotiations to develop a landmark United Nations treaty to end plastic pollution closed on Friday without agreement and have been extended again

South Africa and other countries ignore waste reduction in climate plan

‘If plastic were a country, it would already be the fifth-largest emitter in the world’