PETCO WORKSHOP: The Economics of Recycling: Is Recycling Worth It?
Wed Mar 29, 10:00 - Wed Mar 29, 13:00
Villa Vittoria Lodge
ABOUT
PETCO created the Associate Membership Programme for organizations who are not represented in the shareholding of PETCO but would like to become part of the PETCO family as they subscribe to our principles.This is workshop 1 of 4 for 2017, focusing on "The Economics of Recycling: Is Recycling Worth It?"
PETCO seeks to minimise the environmental impact of post-consumer PET on the South African landscape.
In order to attain this vision and to build a sustainable recycling economy, we first need to understand how the economics of recycling work.
PROGRAMME:
10:00 – 10:10am Welcome and introductions
Janine Basson, PETCO Stakeholder Relations Manager
10:10 – 10:40 Keynote address: Setting the Scene – How does recycling fit into the big picture of sustainability?
Should we still be encouraging recycling and why?
Dr Joel Houdet, Director of Integrated Sustainability Services (ISS)
10:40 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 11:20 Presenting the PETCO model – Understanding PETCO’s role in keeping recycling sustainable
Alistair Schorn, PETCO Business Development Manager
11:20 – 11:40 A Recycler’s Perspective – challenges and opportunities
Chandru Wadhwani, Joint Managing Director Extrupet (Pty) Ltd.
11:40 – 12:00 Q&A
12:00 – 13:00pm Wrap up followed by lunch & networking
More about our speakers:
Dr Joel Houdet
Joël holds Senior Research Fellowships at the African Centre for Technology Studies (Nairobi, Kenya) and the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (University of Pretoria, South Africa). He undertakes research, capacity building, policy analysis and advisory work in the governance and management of Africa’s natural capital, biodiversity and ecosystem services, with a specific focus on extractive industries.
Joël Houdet also manages Integrated Sustainability Services (Pty) Ltd (ISS), a consulting firm which is based in Johannesburg (South Africa). ISS offers integrated sustainability advisory, reporting and applied research services for firms facing strategic challenges.
Alistair Schorn
Alistair is the Head of Business Development at PETCO, the PET Plastic Recycling Company. Formed in 2004, PETCO is the Extended Producer Responsibility Organisation for PET recycling in South Africa. Its mission is to improve the rates of collection and recycling of post-consumer PET bottles, promote the use of recycled PET in existing end-use markets such as polyester staple fibre and foodgrade recycled PET resin, and develop new end-use markets for recycled PET.
Alistair holds a Master’s degree in International Economics, as well as a number of professional qualifications in sustainability-related fields. His background includes extensive consulting experience to blue-chip local and international clients, five years as Head of the Emerging Economies Network at WWF, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, and ten years at the South African Department of Trade and Industry, working in the fields of export and investment promotion.
Alistair is a Faculty Associate at the University of Pretoria’s Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership, and an External Supervisor for the MBA Programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Chandru Wadhwani
Chandru is a BSc Business Studies graduate from City University in London, UK. He has been involved in the Textile & Plastics industries for the last 27 years across the African continent. 16 of those years have been spent in South Africa as part of the team responsible for the setting up and running of Africa’s leading PET and HDPE bottle recycling company, Extrupet.
He’s currently Extrupet’s Joint Managing Director where he is part of a team of dedicated plastic recycling practitioner’s, tasked with leading the company into its next phase of recycling, namely the expansion and technological development of the group’s ‘bottle-to-bottle’ recycling activities.
The Group’s major expansion in this space was the introduction of a Starlinger System in 2014 which is approved by several MNCs. The plant has been running successfully at the Johannesburg site and new market segments such as CSD’s and Bottled Water have been penetrated. The site remains BRC certified and both its ‘Food Grade’ plants have an EFSA opinion document, with the Starlinger line polymer having been approved for use up to 100%.