Juice and milk cartons have long been one of the contributors to waste in South Africa’s landfill sites. In what is a major development for the South African paper and packaging recycling market, Mpact Recycling is pleased to announce that liquid cartons are now recyclable.

Mpact Recycling today, on World Environment Day, confirmed that it will be sponsoring the Mrs South Africa pageant, a women empowerment programme, for the third consecutive year.

Ronnie Recycler (Mpact Recycling celebrity mascot) says that by recycling our milk and juice cartons, we prevent them from becoming waste and give them a new life. This is a big deal because by doing so we also get to protect our natural resources, and reduce the dangers of litter on our environment, as well as health problems linked to air and land pollution.

Mpact Recycling calls on all residents to participate in paper recycling, by collecting all the unwanted paper they have at home. “Your recycling efforts create a more sustainable impact on the environment and the economy when they come full circle. Look on packages and labels for the universal recycling symbol of 3 arrows chasing one another in a triangle. This indicates that a product’s packaging is both recyclable and is made of recycling material,” says John Hunt, Managing Director of Mpact Recycling.

Schools in the cities of Johannesburg, Midrand, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Richards Bay have again been invited to participate in the Ronnie Recycler school’s competition for 2017. Schools in each city will be eligible to win prizes to the value of R20 000*.

The volume of paper and paper packaging recovered for recycling around the world has increased substantially over the past decade - with South Africa’s paper recycling rates being on par with many developed economies.