Polyco’s Packa-Ching initiative pays out US$2.94M, diverting waste from landfills

SOUTH AFRICA – Polyco’s Packa-Ching community recycling initiative has now paid out more than R50 million (US$2.94m) to South Africans and diverted over 41 million kilogrammes of waste from landfills, marking a major milestone for the country’s growing circular economy.

Packa-Ching achieves this through a network of mobile and static buy-back centres located in underserved communities with little to no recycling infrastructure.

In these areas, which are largely serviced by waste pickers, residents can exchange sorted recyclables, including plastics, paper, cans and glass, for cash vouchers redeemable at participating local retailers.

With support from partners such as Sasol and Shoprite, the programme has expanded to 48 community buy-back centres nationwide.

This year alone, Packa-Ching added ten new six-metre units across several provinces, each operated by a trained local micro-enterprise.

Polyco says this model not only diverts significant volumes of recyclable material from landfills but also creates jobs, develops local capability, and strengthens long-term community ownership of waste management infrastructure.

To enhance transparency and data tracking, Polyco has also developed the WeighPay app, which facilitates secure transactions and captures real-time collection data to support compliance under South Africa’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system.

Polyco operates as a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) under these regulations.

South Africa’s EPR regulations, enacted under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, require producers of packaging, paper, electronics, batteries and lighting to take responsibility for the post-consumer phase of their products.

Producers must either establish their own EPR scheme or join a PRO to fund and manage end-of-life collection, recycling and disposal.

In recognition of outstanding achievements within the Packa-Ching network, Polyco recently hosted a gala evening in Cape Town to honour top-performing recycling enterprises.

Five enterprises were celebrated for excellence in plastics recovery, community impact, enterprise leadership and partnerships with waste pickers, who Polyco describes as critical to the initiative’s success.

Nominees were evaluated using collection data submitted through the WeighPay app, which determined winners across categories such as Top Plastics Collector, Community Impact Award, Largest Recycling Collection, Women-Led Enterprise, and Largest Recycling Collection, Youth-Led Enterprise.

“It’s important that we celebrate the efforts of all our Packa-Ching enterprises,” said Polyco CEO Patricia Pillay.

“They have been at the heart of a movement to empower communities to champion waste management. We congratulate the winners for driving a green, inclusive circular economy and making a profound impact in their communities.”

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