South Africans produce approximately 122 million tons of waste every year, making the country the 14th highest waste generator in the world. Based on the current recycling rates, only ten percent of waste is recycled, with the rest going to landfill or accruing in the natural environment such as open areas, rivers, beaches and oceans.
IMAGINEIF npc is a purpose-developed sustainability innovation not-for-profit company. It turns unrecyclable plastic material using a Green Machine into Green Pavers (and other building blocks), which can be used for landscaping. This process uses no water, no cement and no sand.
TRANSFORM supported the Green Pavers project by commissioning three new Green Paver Machines. Two were installed and operated from the IMAGINEIF innovation hub in Howick and one was shipped to Nigeria for installation and operation at the Wecyclers operation in Lagos. The machine that was shipped to Nigeria was diverted to Amsterdam due to Covid-19 shipping route constraints and is stuck in customs limbo. These IMAGINEIF machines produced over 5,000 Green Pavers and resulted in the collection and processing of over 30,000 kilograms of post-consumer plastic film waste. The project also supported the organisation of a four day Sustainability Practitioners Programme for local plastic industry stakeholders and employed 100 local community members for eight months, through a partnership with the Amanzi Ethu Nobantu programme, to enable the collection of unrecyclable plastic accrued in catchment drainage systems.