(SOUTH AFRICA)
The circular economy is continuing to gain traction as more people experience the benefits of it.
Initiatives like the ‘Virtuous Circle‘ project in South Africa are a great example of this. With a shortage of three million school desks in the country, according to Expand Africa, the circular economy is providing a solution. The programme takes multilayer packaging used in food pouches distributed to school kids, called FUTURELIFE® Smart food™ , and recycles the resulting waste into the green desks they so desperately need.
Finding innovative techniques to reuse multilayer packaging – such as that manufactured by Amcor and used in the ‘smart food’ – is a key target of the ‘Virtuous Circle‘. Project partners DuPont and the Rural Waste Poverty Alleviation Solutions (RWPA) have been encouraging new research to identify recycling alternatives to landfill.
“While multi-layers play an essential role in preserving food, waste from this type of packaging has been growing steadily, so a solution had to be found.” says Dr Andrew Venter CEO of Wildlands, a South African NGO that worked with RWPA on developing the innovative process used to make the green desks.
Schools involved in the project are now receiving the desks, meaning they see first-hand how the circular economy can work for them.
