The national organisation responsible for the recovery of waste glass for recycling is the Glass Recycling Company South Africa. They offer an entrepreneurship programme including mentorship.
Assistance From GRCSA
The Glass Recycling Company South Africa is a not-for-profit organisation promoting glass recycling. It is a joint industry initiative with partners that includes the Government
glass manufacturers, fillers (users of glass to package their products) and glass recyclers.
They assist entrepreneurs in setting up buy-back centres and take all opportunities possible to create jobs and in turn alleviate poverty by investigating all entrepreneurial opportunities. They assist Historically Disadvantaged South Africans as well.
Running a recycling glass centre or scheme involves partnerships between recyclers, the community and the municipality. It is also important to consider who will train the entrepreneur. Recycling companies will perform this role at no cost, if a supplier’s agreement for recyclables is entered into with them.
Click here to visit the GRCSA website for more information.
Seda
The Small Enterprise Agency (Seda) also have information and assist specially with regard to glass recycling and can point you in the right direction in order to find a mentor in this field of recycling.
Click here to visit the SEDA website for more information.
Did you know
About 550 000 tons of waste glass finds its way into landfills in South Africa.
The term “Cullet” is used by the glass industry to refer to waste recycled glass
Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled over and over again without decreasing the quality of the end product. The bottle banks are collected by a recycling agent who crushes the glass before transportation to the glass manufacturer.
The glass manufacturer crushes the glass into even smaller pieces and mixes it with silica sand, soda ash and limestone. This mixture is melted in a furnace, poured into product moulds and cooled slowly to increase its strength.