Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 4: The toxic cradle of productionPlastic and packagingPackaging consumes 52% of plastics by value. For their part, plastics make up 70%of the R29 billion packaging market and are rapidly expanding production andmarket share. In its submission to the parliamentary portfolio committee hearings onthe Waste Bill, the packaging industry claimed commitment to extended producerresponsibility and said it had “achieved impressive results” in reducing, re-using andrecycling packaging in accordance with the waste hierarchy. 79Reduction is claimed because the weight of such items as beverage cans and glassand PET bottles has been reduced over time. Reduced weight reduces the embodiedenergy, and hence production wastes, in such items as well as the energy required fortransport. The growth of the industry, however, means that the number of items andthe total volume of packaging material are rising rapidly. As a whole, the industrynow consumes 2 billion tonnes of raw material a year. Plastic is held to be particularlyvirtuous for its lightness and the substitution of plastics for other materials is claimedas environmental progress. What is not said is that reduced weight is not associatedwith reduced embodied energy in the substitution.Despite expanding the market for cans and dumpies, South African Breweries still sells75% of beer in returnable glass bottles. There is also some use of refill packaging. Theindustry claims that detergent refills reduce packaging materials by 70%, but do notsay what proportion of the market is taken by refills. A quick glance at supermarketshelves indicates ‘not much’. However, according to the industry, “One way packaging,in many cases, is the more environmentally friendly option, as return distances andfuel emissions as well as the amount of water and chemicals used to clean refillablepackaging may have a more negative impact on the environment.” 80Table 10 shows the packaging industry claims for recycling.79 Packaging Council of South Africa submission, November 15, 2007.80 This quote is taken from the Packaging Council of South Africa (PACSA) website but the argument isemphasised on the Plastics Federation and PETCO sites.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 113 -