Polyco to manage all plastic polymer types
Polyco was established as a non-profit organisation in 2011 by a group of South Africa’s responsible polyolefin plastic-packaging converters to deal with polymer identification codes 2, 4, 5 and 7 and has recently increased our scope of our activities to now include the representation of all plastic packaging polymer types under mandatory EPR.
With new EPR regulations, it is now mandatory for producers to join a PRO or form one themselves. Under the EPR regulations, legislated for implementation from 5 November 2021, producers, through their PROs or independent schemes, are legally mandated to manage their products at end of life in order to grow the downstream reuse and recycling of their materials to achieve the published legislated targets. Obligated producers have until 5 November 2021 to register with the DFFE and ensure that all identified products are covered by an EPR scheme. They can either join an existing PRO, form a new PRO or develop and submit an independent EPR scheme.
A challenge with these new EPR regulations is that producers who manufacture more than one type of plastic are required to join more than one PRO to cover their full product range. Considering this, Polyco has made the decision to now manage all plastic polymer types under our mandate.
We are funded by our members, who are passionate about the environment and are committed to realising a clean South Africa. Our members pay a levy for every tonne of virgin polymer purchased from either local or overseas raw material suppliers, and in turn, we ensure that their extended producer responsibilities are performed by Polyco.
Our recent merger with Polystyrene Packaging Council and Vinyl Loop has strengthened Polyco’s position and we are now a one-stop-shop for all plastic packaging types, increasing our support to producers, retailers and brand owners under EPR.
