“Many consider plastic to be one of the natural environment’s biggest enemies, but John Kieser, sustainability manager at Plastics SA, is passionate about creating an environment where the natural world and man-made technology can coexist.

His interest in marine life and pollution started when the government appointed him as a fisheries inspector. He noticed that there was a lack of experiential training in the world of conservation: “Most of the environmental educators focusing on the marine and coastal area were very knowledgeable, but lacked experience in the field.”

Kieser brings this experience to his role at Plastics SA, where providing accredited training to the plastics industry is one of six core focus areas.

Plastic is affordable, decreases our carbon footprint and makes the 21st century technology we depend on possible.

“On the other hand, we as an industry need to ensure that if a product is manufactured in South Africa or is imported, it can be recycled.”

The sustainability section of Plastics SA leads a number of environmental projects: beach clean-ups, providing bins for fishing lines at angling spots, and Operation Clean Sweep, aimed at keeping plastic pellets out of the natural environment.”

“Sustainability is just another word for conservation, and conservation has always been mistaken for preservation. We do not protect just to ensure an aesthetically pleasing South Africa, but also so that we as humans live in harmony with our environment, not to the detriment of it.”

“Aaniyah Omardien is the founder and director of The Beach Co-op, an organisation focusing on building an ocean-loving culture in Cape Town.

“I fell in love with the ocean as a young girl in Cape Town, where the mountains meet the sea. This connection to blue and green spaces motivated me to study geography and atmospheric science at the University of Cape Town.”
The Beach Co-op is involved in beach clean-ups, and works collaboratively with ocean communities and other role players to protect and restore ocean ecosystems.

Omardien believes that sustainability and environmentalism go hand-in-hand: “I have struggled being labelled an environmentalist, because it did not capture the social justice and human rights issues that I feel are marginalised in traditional conservation and sustainability/environmental practices.”
Omardien argues that the marginalised are the most threatened by the effects of climate change, but are often side-lined from the sustainability conversation.

“The Beach Co-op has been working with the City of Cape Town to improve their understanding of the biodiversity in some of the city’s tidal pools, and to share this knowledge with residents,” she says.”

“Our goals are to empower coastal communities as keepers of oceans, and to keep South Africa’s beaches clean and healthy”

PETCO (PET Recycling Company NPC) was established in 2004 as an industry-driven and financed national recycling initiative. Its aim is to represent the South African PET plastic industry’s joint effort to self-regulate post-consumer PET recycling.

“PET” is the acronym for a versatile, sophisticated plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate, which is used to make the most common container in the soft drink market today: the plastic bottle. PET is globally recognised as a safe, recyclable packaging material for food and non-food products. It is used for a wide variety of applications because it is safe, strong, shatterproof and chemically 100% recyclable into various PET products (such as fibre for duvets and pillows) and bottles, when basic design principles are followed.

Although the PET plastics industry acknowledges the convenience and life-saving qualities of plastics, a solution for post-consumer plastic packaging is critical in order to minimise its impact on the environment. PETCO views itself as a catalyst of design for recycling innovation, preserving the value of existing resources and utilising recycled PET in more and more applications.

PETCO estimates that more than 64 000 income opportunities are created every year through PET bottle recycling for small and micro-collectors. Plastic and other pollution are some of the biggest challenges currently facing the planet and the accumulation of plastic waste and other debris on land and its leakage into the sea is a growing, costly problem. Through PETCO and its members, 5.9 million bottles were collected for recycling every day in 2019, keeping them out of the environment and ocean where they do not belong.

The company raises awareness for the plastic pollution crisis by being involved in various ocean-conscious events such as the African Marine Network conference, and educating the public on the need for a circular economy.”