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| The South African National Bottled Water Association environmental working group tasked with establishing a practical action plan for reducing the industry’s environmental impact, met for the first time this week (27th August) in Johannesburg. |
| According to Sanbwa chairman, John Weaver, the main area for addressing the environmental impact of the bottled water industry, is increasing the recycling of the plastic bottles used by the industry and therefore reducing the manufacture of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used in the production of the bottles. PET is 100% recyclable. “Until we’ve done some research, we aren’t able to speculate on what the impact on the industry will be of going green in these particular ways, but those eight of our ten members who attended the AGM on 31 July voted unanimously for making environmental issues a priority for Sanbwa and its members,” Weaver says. “So there is unequivocal commitment to making a positive difference.” Initially representative only of producers of natural mineral water and known since 1997 as the South African Natural Bottled Water Association, Sanbwa’s existing members account for 80% of the bottled water produced and consumed in South Africa. With new bottled water legislation and regulations having come into effect at the beginning of August 2007, Sanbwa is extending membership to bottlers of prepared water – who are allowed to modify the chemical content of their source water within legislated constraints - and the word ‘natural’ in the association’s name has been changed to ‘national’. The change in mandate and name means that, by the end of September 2007, Sanbwa will represent the producers of 90% of all bottled water sold in South Africa. Sales of bottled water are growing exponentially year on year. In 2006, sales increased by 34% to 290 million litres. "That represents millions of bottles a year that should be recycled,” Weaver says. “At the moment, according to PETco, South Africa’s PET recycling organisation, only 18.5% of all PET is recycled – including packaging for things other than water. While that means that more PET is being recycled than glass, there’s a lot of room for improvement and it’s involvement of the public that’s going to make the difference. Our working group will focus on ways to encourage the public to recycle.” Sanbwa has been involved in recycling of glass bottles for many years. |
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