Recycling Facts and information

Recycling is an essential component of protecting our environment and helping conserve resources and energy; this in turn preserves valuable landfill space and supports a healthy environment.

Below are a few interesting facts about recycling in South Africa:

• According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, waste recovery and recycling facilities in South Africa handled 15 998 000 tons of waste during 2016.
• South Africa has a 70% recycling rate when it comes to steel and aluminium cans (source: Collect-a-Can). For every one ton of aluminium cans recycled, 14,000 kWh of energy is saved, 6295 liters of oil is saved and 14.5265 cubic meters of landfill space is saved.
• For every ton of cardboard that is recycled it helps save about 174.12 litres of oil.
• 1.52 cubic meters of landfill space (this is the size of an average refrigerator) is saved for every ton of glass that would be recycled.
• An estimated 17 trees are saved and 26497.8 liters of water for each ton of paper that is recycled.
• Recycling a ton of plastic helps save 5,774 kWh of energy.