The legislative framework for alternative use of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) in South Africa : opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is part of the polyester family and has widespread use as a packaging material, especially for bottling gaseous drinks and mineral waters. The exceptional features of PET, namely flexibility, transparency, excellent adhesion, low permeability to liquids and gases, high thermal resistance and low cost, enable PET to be considered a suitable alternative resource for use in various applications. Furthermore, PET is the only recycled material used in the food industry because it is completely non-toxic and does not contaminate food and drinks with harmful chemicals. Therefore, PET is used in bottle-to-bottle applications, including food applications. Furthermore, PET is a suitable polyester fibre for cotton and is used in various engineered resin applications, for example in textile, plastic sheeting and strapping industries. Thus, recycled PET can replace virgin materials during manufacturing processes to save many of our natural resources. However, with the rapid population increase in recent years, including the growth and urbanisation of towns and widespread consumerism and consumption, PET waste has become a significant source of pollution, causing critical environmental problems, thus requiring urgent attention. In addressing these problems, South African waste legislation, operating primarily through the National Environmental Management Act (107 of 1998) (NEMA) and supplementary regulations, has provided various protective mechanisms. These should be implemented to move waste up the integrated waste management hierarchy and promote diversion from landfills, as well as treatment, to enhance reuse and recovery. In addition, the amended Waste Act (26 of 2014) refined the definition of waste and inserted certain circumstances as to when waste ceases to be waste, such as when an application is approved for its reuse, recovery or recycling, or, in the absence of such approval, the waste is or has been reused, recovered or recycled. For this reason, strategic planning and implementing mechanisms to mitigate and reduce the risk of depleting natural resources are imperative. The primary aim of this study was to determine the opportunities and challenges created by the current South African legislative framework for alternative uses of PET waste. Thus, the research objectives focused on determining potential alternative uses of PET waste, critically exploring the current South African legislative framework, and evaluating the opportunities and challenges of the legal framework within the South African context. The study concluded that PET is an appropriate resource for alternative use in recycled applications, including but not limited to bottle-2-bottle, bottle-2-food grade, textile for domestic and industrial products, for example clothing and duvets, and plastic pallets to replace timber pallets. In addition, various opportunities and challenges for the alternative use of PET waste were identified. However, it was established that there was a deficiency in defining plastic waste in the Waste Act before 2020, except for the definition in the National Domestic Waste Collection

Standards. Therefore, the South African legislative framework before 2020 neither governed the alternative uses of PET waste nor served per se to create the challenges and opportunities associated with the current legislative framework. However, it was established that the South African legislative framework could have been explored to govern the alternative use of PET waste. Nevertheless, the significant changes made by the National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) 2020 and the enactment of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations during 2020 present significant legislative opportunities and challenges governing the alternative use of PET waste within the context of the South African legislative framework.