Displaying items by tag: Fibre Circle

Fibre Circle, the producer responsibility organisation (PRO) for the South African paper and paper packaging sector, has appointed Edith Leeuta as chief executive officer effective 1 May 2022.

“The Fibre Circle Board is delighted to welcome Edith to the team,” says Dinga Mncube, chairman. “Her vision, drive, passion for the environment and experience are what Fibre Circle needs to ensure that our children inherit a better environment.”

Echoing these sentiments, Leeuta adds, “We all have a role to play in leaving the earth a better place than what we found for future generations.”

Fibre Circle is responsible for the implementation of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) programmes, which includes the collection of fees from manufacturers and importers of paper products, and provides support in the development of sustainable, end-of-life programmes with a strong emphasis on re-use and recycling.

An equally important assignment is to provide support for the creation and development of small- to medium-sized businesses, with waste beneficiation and job creation as major objectives, particularly in rural areas.

Prior to joining Fibre Circle, Leeuta was employed as senior human capital business partner at Standard Bank.

She has also acted in both management and consultancy roles for several leading organisations, including Bidvest, Nedbank, First National Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Department of Science and Innovation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

With a strong background in human resources and communications, she already has hands-on experience of working in areas related to her new role. She was instrumental in founding GR33N Africa, a not-for-profit organisation created to educate communities on sustainable environmental practices.

Another significant project was setting up and implementing the human resources and key stakeholder framework for a subsidiary of New GX Capital, the largest material recovery facility in Gauteng.

Leeuta is regularly asked to provide her insight on subjects like human capital development and environmental sustainability on radio stations 702, SAfm, YFM and Power FM. She also headed up human resources management for Power FM.

Moving forward, she will not only be working with the team at Fibre Circle but an incredibly wide variety of government and industry stakeholders, including municipalities, timber growers, paper and paper packaging producers, importers, processors, end users, environmentalists, and recyclers.

Under a new campaign name, “Recycling in the Bag”, Fibre Circle, the producer responsibility organisation for the paper sector, teamed up with food service and packaging producer Detpak and Remade Recycling (part of the Mpact Group) to show 200 recycling collectors that paper grocery bags and brown take-away food bags can be collected from households and sold with their wastepaper collections.

The circular waste economy is a thriving network of collectors, buyers and processors, using recyclables such as wastepaper to make new products. Every year, more than 1.1 million tonnes of paper and paper packaging are recovered in South Africa and recycled into new products that we use every day. These products can then be recycled again, in many cases up to 25 times.

Each collector then received a pie and soft drink, along with a paper goodie bag, naturally in the same material that makes grocery bags, containing a reflective T-shirt, sun hat, safety gloves, fresh fruit and a box of Smarties, also in a recyclable paper box. Paper recycling is largely based on different grades of paper. In industry speak cardboard boxes are termed K4 while used white office paper is termed as HL1 (heavy letter 1). Cereal boxes, egg cartons and other similar paper items are deemed common mixed waste (CMW).

Thankfully, citizens only need to know whether something is recyclable or not. Once packaging or a recyclable product leaves our home with a waste collector or recycling company, they tend not to think about where it goes.

For a waste collector who sells our recyclables to a buy-back centre or recycling branch, the type of paper – and the value they get for it – is significant.

It is important for the respective grades to be separated and baled together as they form the ingredients for the paper products they will be recycled into.

Samantha Choles, Fibre Circle communications manager, explains, “Old cardboard boxes and paper bags will be repulped into other paper types – these will become new cardboard boxes and paper bags, and so the cycle continues.”

Used white paper is recycled into tissue products such as toilet paper while several paper grades are recycled into common household packaging such as matchboxes, tooth paste boxes and cereal boxes.

“With paper bags now synonymous with suburban and city-based grocery deliveries after Covid kept many of us away from supermarkets, Detpak and its customers felt that it was important to close the loop with the production and recycling of paper bags,” explains Carla Breytenbach, marketing manager for Detpak.

At Remade Recycling’s Midrand branch, small groups of collectors were invited to a discussion and demonstration by Anele Sololo, manager for education and SMME development at Fibre Circle.

Each collector then received a pie and soft drink, along with a paper goodie bag, naturally in the same material that makes grocery bags, containing a reflective T-shirt, sun hat, safety gloves, fresh fruit and a box of Smarties, also in a recyclable paper box.

“Safety and visibility is a key aspect in the lives of collectors who navigate the busy streets of our suburbs daily making an honest living,” notes Donna-Mari Noble, communications manager for the Mpact Group’s Recycling business, which includes Remade Recycling.

With Global Recycling Day coming up on Friday 18 March, what better way to contribute to the circular economy than by adding your paper bags to your recycling?” If you are not recycling yet, start simple by putting out recyclables such as cardboard boxes, pizza boxes, grocery bags and other similar packaging on your pavement for recycling collectors.

For more information on what is recyclable, visit https://fibrecircle.co.za/promotional-material/

ABOUT FIBRE CIRCLE

As a government recognised producer responsibility organisation, Fibre Circle manages extended producer responsibility programmes to keep paper and paper packaging – a renewable and recyclable product - out of South Africa’s landfills. It currently has 180 registered producers including paper manufacturers, importers, brand owners and retailers. 

https://fibrecircle.co.za/members/