Plastic is everywhere—food packaging, furniture, and children’s toys—making it a defining material of the modern world. According to Greenpeace, humanity produced approximately 9.2 billion tonnes of this material as of the 1950s. In 2019, that number was 368 million tonnes, and only 9% was recycled.
South Africa is home to roughly 90,000 waste pickers, recyclable collection companies and entrepreneurs who earn a living by collecting, sorting and delivering recyclable waste to Mpact Recycling’s branches.
