Corporate SA – Interwaste Holdings Ltd

Interwaste Launches Adult Education Programme in Partnership with TETA

wont.socialise@gmail.com — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:23:47 +0000

Investing in People. Strengthening Communities. Building a Future-Fit Workforce.

In a bold step towards advancing workforce capability and inclusive economic participation, Interwaste is proud to announce the launch of its Adult Education and Training (AET) Programme. This initiative, rolled out in May 2025, forms part of the company’s broader commitment to education, empowerment, and transformation, and was made possible through funding support from the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA).TETA Learners First Day

The programme equips both employed and unemployed participants with foundational literacy and numeracy skills – essential for productive workplace participation and lifelong learning. These core competencies not only strengthen the individual but contribute to the sustainability of businesses and communities alike.

“At Interwaste, we believe that empowering individuals through education drives long-term, sustainable change – not just within our organisation, but in the communities we touch. This programme reflects our commitment to shaping a better, more inclusive future.” – Justin Bott, CEO, Interwaste

Participants enrolled in the AET programme attend structured sessions facilitated by accredited instructors. Employed learners are released by their line managers to attend weekly classes, while the unemployed cohort participates in full-time training, gaining vital skills to support their employability and workplace readiness.

Importantly, the programme integrates Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), which assesses participants’ existing knowledge and skills. This not only fast-tracks their development but also formally recognises prior learning and workplace experience, allowing for more personalised and impactful interventions.

“The AET initiative speaks directly to our purpose of serving land and life – starting with people. It supports our vision of building capability at all levels, reinforcing the idea that there is no waste in learning.” – Rebaone Maakelo, HR Director, Interwaste

This initiative reflects Interwaste’s role as a responsible corporate citizen – committed to talent development, internal growth, and contributing meaningfully to national skills development goals. It also aligns with the Learning and Development team’s core belief: “No Waste in Learning” – a philosophy that speaks to the power of focused, relevant, and value-driven training.

“This programme exemplifies our belief that education is a transformative tool for individuals, businesses and communities,” adds Maakelo. “We are proud to be making a measurable contribution to socio-economic development.”

Interwaste extends its sincere appreciation to TETA for their continued partnership, as well as to all internal stakeholders – line managers, operational heads, and the Learning and Development team – who played a role in supporting employee participation and ensuring a smooth rollout.

As the AET programme progresses, Interwaste looks forward to sharing success stories, learner achievements, and the long-term impact of this investment in people.

Beating Plastic Pollution: Homegrown Innovations Leading the Way

wont.socialise@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 20:00:41 +0000

Plastic is everywhere. It wraps our food, transports our goods, and clutters our streets and oceans. Globally, over 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year, with only a fraction effectively recycled. In South Africa, an estimated 60,000 tonnes of plastic enter our rivers and oceans annually. The consequences? Choked waterways, declining biodiversity, and communities burdened by waste.

But this story isn’t just one of crisis – it’s also one of innovation, responsibility, and hope. On this World Environment Day, we’re celebrating the African-driven solutions turning the tide against plastic pollution and showing the world that progress doesn’t have to wait.

Turning Waste into Roads in KwaZulu-Natal

Imagine driving down a road built from recycled plastic. In KwaZulu-Natal, this is already a reality. A pilot project using plastic waste in asphalt mixtures has delivered roads that are not only more durable but also more cost-effective than conventional builds. These plastic roads represent a practical, scalable solution – transforming harmful waste into a national asset.

EcoBricks: Building the Future with Plastic

At the grassroots level, the EcoBrick Exchange is empowering communities to reuse non-recyclable plastics. These tightly packed plastic bottles – called ecobricks – are used to build schools, benches, and community centres. It’s a circular solution that provides both housing infrastructure and a new use for plastics that would otherwise pollute the environment.

From Pollution to Pay Day: The Packa-Ching Revolution

Waste has value – when it’s treated right. The Packa-Ching initiative brings mobile recycling units to communities, allowing people to trade plastic and other recyclables for cash. This simple but powerful model drives participation, builds recycling habits, and creates economic opportunity – proving that waste management can be inclusive and empowering.

Recycling Innovation from Industry Leaders

South Africa’s plastics industry has been quick to respond to the challenge. PETCO, one of the country’s most successful Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs, works across the value chain to drive plastic recycling rates upwards. Their efforts have created thousands of jobs and diverted millions of tonnes of PET plastic from landfills and natural spaces.

Africa is not alone in this fight. Across the globe, forward-thinking solutions are emerging:

The Ocean Cleanup project is removing plastic from major river systems before it reaches the sea.
Loop, an international reuse platform, partners with major brands to eliminate single-use plastic packaging.
In India, plogging – jogging while picking up litter – has evolved into a mass movement, changing the culture around waste one step at a time.

These efforts remind us that while plastic pollution is a global issue, solutions can begin at a local level and ripple outward.

The Interwaste Approach: Innovation, Accountability, Action

At Interwaste, our commitment to #BeatPlasticPollution goes beyond awareness. We support circular economy models, such as repurposing plastic waste into alternative fuels and energy through our licensed waste treatment and disposal infrastructure. Our Waste-to-Energy project, along with engineered landfill practices, ensures that plastics that cannot be recycled are disposed of safely and responsibly.

More importantly, we believe in partnerships – working alongside communities, corporates, and policymakers to drive scalable impact across the waste value chain.

Plastic pollution won’t be solved by a single innovation – but by a million actions working together. Whether it’s refusing single-use plastic, supporting local recycling efforts, or redesigning how we produce and consume, each decision matters.

This World Environment Day, let’s celebrate the technology, the people, and the solutions that are already making a difference. South Africa is not behind – it is rising to meet the moment.

Together, we can beat plastic pollution. Let’s build a future where plastic is part of the solution, not the problem.

Pioneering a Greener Future for South Africa’s Energy Crisis

wont.socialise@gmail.com — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 03:54:46 +0000

The role of emerging technology in addressing food waste.

16 October marks World Food Day – a day set to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable food systems and combating hunger worldwide.

According to an article published in Scientific American, the global food system contributes to around a third of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. However, what has never been clear is how much of this is due to lost or wasted food. While a further article reveals that methane, from landfills, produced by the global food supply, is much more powerful at warming the planet than carbon dioxide itself – which is a sobering thought.

In a nutshell, food waste really does have a negative impact on the environment and society. The good news though, is that this waste can be managed effectively, not only from a household perspective, but right across the food supply chain.

The truth about food waste

There is a common misconception that food waste is only leftover food that is discarded by households. However, food waste occurs from the moment food is farmed all the way through to retail stores and ultimately into your homes. Not only does it occur at the production level due to several factors, including climate change, soil quality, diseases and/or lack of labour, but given that retailers place a premium on quality, produce that does not meet their quality standards can be rejected and thus, wasted. As a result, landfills are significantly impacted by food waste that was never actually consumed postproduction.

Considering the magnitude of the food waste challenge in South Africa (it is estimated that 30% of all food produced is wasted), addressing it goes beyond just households – and means that retailers, restaurants, and the agricultural industry at large need to become more actively involved in the reduction of food waste. While sustainability policies are helping curb this challenge – especially from a business perspective – there is a pressing need for solutions that can help these industries tackle food waste, to have a measurable impact on our food system and the environment.

The role of emerging technology

Technology and innovation play an important role in waste reduction and beneficiation by not only giving us new methods to manage waste more sustainably – especially from a supply chain perspective, but given the scale of waste these innovations, also include aspects like using this waste as a secondary resource. When considering food or organic waste, processes such as composting and anaerobic digestion are able to re-purpose this waste for another use, such as soil regeneration or energy.

Anaerobic digestion is a process by which biogas is created through naturally occurring bacterial processes. This gas is harnessed and used to generate electricity. Anaerobic digestion is an established process which requires specific expertise and technology, but essentially it reduces the amount of organic waste going to landfill, as well as a decrease in the emission of harmful greenhouse gases.

Furthermore, the platform can act as an on-site model that ensures that waste is managed immediately, as it is generated, and is then disposed of in hygienic and compliant manner.

So, in order to achieve our zero waste to landfill goal as a country, we all need to take part in making a change. Start with small changes in your purchasing habits, but in instances where food waste cannot be avoided, consider recycling that into compost as an example, or examine various other options within the waste management segment that could work for you and/or your business.

This World Food Day, think about your food waste – how you manage it – don’t just throw it away – it can be used and benefit the environment and all mankind.

Celebrating the launch of its Give2Green initiative

wont.socialise@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 07:13:25 +0000

It’s Women’s Month – and Interwaste is celebrating the launch of its Give2Green initiative.

Women’s Month is a month where we not only highlight the triumphs of women but take stock of the barriers that they still face. In fact, our own Government has stated that Women’s Month allows us to gauge how far we have come in transforming the unequal power relations between men and women and creating a conducive environment to enable women to take control of their lives.

And we agree.

Every company should use this month as an opportunity to examine how they can facilitate socio-economic upliftment, to make a collective difference. This is a challenge that Interwaste has examined. We have focused on how we continue to remain true to our core, by focusing on driving recycling and waste management issues in South Africa, but also to provide a sustainable approach to some of the key issues facing women. In line with this, we are pleased to launch our Give2Green initiative this month.

The Give2Green initiative, which still focuses on the recycling element, now gives consumers, and companies the option of either donating sanitary pads or wheelchairs to those that need it the most. It is an adaption of our already well received Tops & Tags programme – where since 2011, we asked individuals, communities and corporates to bring in recyclable goods that could be used as a donation towards a wheelchair for those in need. A programme that saw us donate over 1 000 wheelchairs to worthy recipients as well as divert over 400 tons of waste from landfill disposal.Give2Green is the next evolutionary step in this journey.

We really want to focus on promoting women’s health, education, and empowerment to improve the lives of women and girls in our country and part of this journey means also addressing a very basic human right – access. Today, far too many women, and girls, lack access to sanitary pads, which, we know can lead to absenteeism in schools, and at work, and this can affect education and income generating activities. In fact, I Menstruate, an organisation that is focuses on these issues has stated that today 83% of girl learners do not have regular access to menstrual hygiene products at school and at home. We hope to make a difference here – and believe that collectively, we can provide the access that is so very much needed.

So please join us on this journey as we try to help remove this barrier for so many women and allow them to allocate their limited resources to other much needed necessities.

To learn more, please visit www.give2green.co.za and start collecting your recycling for donation.

Avery Dennison & Interwaste Ramp up Liner Recycling Programme in SA

wont.socialise@gmail.com — Thu, 18 May 2023 08:55:08 +0000

Avery Dennison and Interwaste aim to expand AD Circular, Avery Dennison’s glassine liner (backing paper) recycling programme, which seeks to divert waste from landfill and support the growing demand for recycled materials in South Africa.

Studies have shown that glassine liner for pressure-sensitive (self-adhesive) labels is a recyclable waste with high-quality fibres. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a global policy approach that places responsibility on producers for the collection, treatment and disposal of post-consumer waste, lists glassine liners as one of the paper and packaging materials that must be diverted from landfill.

Over the last two years, AD Circular, through a partnership with Interwaste, a South African waste management solutions provider, has successfully redirected approximately 100 tons of glassine liner waste from landfill in the country. AD Circular allows both white and yellow glassine liner waste from any pressure-sensitive label manufacturer to be recycled.

With increasing demands for more responsible waste management and in line with the national government’s approach, Avery Dennison has plans to accelerate its AD Circular liner recycling programme in South Africa.

Mark Ellis, commercial director at Avery Dennison Sub-Saharan Africa, reports: ‘AD Circular is our contribution towards the establishment of a circular economy and one of the many ways we’re enabling the recycling of label waste and advancing the use of recycled materials. More importantly, we also want to provide a convenient way for businesses to recycle their glassine liner waste and simultaneously help to strengthen their sustainability goals.’

‘The ongoing collaborative efforts of brand owners and packaging providers have been integral to the success of AD Circular to date. As more of such like-minded partners look for efficient solutions to recycle packaging waste, we hope to work with them on this journey to strive towards a zero-waste nation in South Africa,’ Mark comments.

Kate Stubbs, director business development and marketing at Interwaste, adds: ‘Interwaste is excited to bring this solution to the South African market in partnership with Avery Dennison. As a company focused on providing compliant, innovative and sustainable integrated waste management solutions to customers, this is another example of how we can assist them in transitioning to the circular economy operating model and opening opportunities for economic growth, local employment and environmental best practice.’