Sunday Times E-Edition

Partnering with recycling heroes to safeguard the planet

Woolworths is making a difference in its commitment to being agents of change

For more information, click on https://www.globalrecyclingday.com/about/

Yesterday the world marked Global Recycling Day, highlighting the effect recycling has had on diverting waste from landfill and celebrating “recycling heroes” who are committed to being agents of change, as well as ordinary citizens who have made recycling an everyday habit in their homes.

According to the Global Recycling Foundation, each year recyclables save more than 700-million tonnes of CO2 emissions and this is projected to increase to 1-billion tonnes by 2030.*

Woolworths recognises the core role it can play in supporting recycling initiatives and is striving to fulfil its vision of zero packaging waste to landfill. One of the ways it is doing this is by improving the recyclability of its packaging and encouraging customers to do their part by making recycling commonplace in their homes. Some of Woolworths’ new recycling packaging developments include the bags used for their popular rotisserie chickens, as well as the packaging for their prepared sauces, coffee, grains, antipasti and soup ranges.

Other key elements of the retailer’s unwavering journey to adopt a sustainable way of doing business that also creates jobs, is the removal of single-use plastic bags from their stores, choosing to use recyclable materials in products, and partnering with like-minded businesses such as Verigreen.

Verigreen manufactures Woolworths’ range of pedal bin, swing bin and black refuse bags, which are made using recycled materials. As a local recycling hero, Verigreen, through its Invest in Dignity Foundation’s programme, Women in Recycling, also uplifts women in impoverished communities by enabling them to earn money by gathering plastic waste and bringing it to its recycling depot.

Verigreen was started by husband and wife team Mike and Thina Maziya in 2000, and over the years they have embraced sustainability practices across their business, with their products either being made from recycled content, or being reusable or recyclable. By using recycled content in its flagship drawstring refuse bags — like those they produce for Woolworths — this environmentally responsible business diverts more than 300 tonnes per month of plastic waste from landfills. This also reduces the need to use virgin plastic which is extracted from fossil fuels to manufacture polymers.

Verigreen’s Women in Recycling initiative was sparked when Mike spoke to a woman who was collecting plastic waste to take to one of their recycling partner’s plants to earn money to support her family.

Mike and Thina decided to launch the initiative to enable women to earn a more substantial and dignified income while empowering them as entrepreneurs in the recycling industry through various training initiatives. The programme has, in turn, turned these women into recycling heroes as they help clean the eThekwini region, divert waste from landfills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while improving the lives of their families and communities.

“We are exceedingly proud that the Women in Recycling initiative and Invest in Dignity Foundation have empowered 430 women. These women have triumphed over their adversity; they have a sense of pride and power as they are now micro-entrepreneurs,” says Thina Maziya, co-founder of Verigreen and Invest in Dignity Foundation.

Woolworths is proud to partner with Verigreen and support its Women in Recycling initiative. It recognises that while recycling alone cannot solve the world’s pollution problems, it has significant potential to impact on cleaning up waste systems, creating jobs and reducing the use of virgin plastics. Every step of the sustainability journey helps to bring about a cleaner and greener country for all — that’s the Woolworths Difference.

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2023-03-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

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