Newly released data shows how South Africa’s collection and recycling sector received a significant boost from packaging producers and brand owners in 2025 – many of them prominent global brands.

The investment in the sector is detailed in the annual results announced by South Africa’s longest-standing producer responsibility organisation, Petco. It reveals how its members’ extended producer responsibility fees were used to boost the collection and recycling value chain across the country in 2025.

The audited results show that, on behalf of its members, Petco diverted 86,000 cubic metres of post-consumer packaging – namely PET plastic and liquid board packaging (LBP) – from landfill in 2025. This is 10,000 cubic metres more than in 2024 and is equivalent to 2,600 standard shipping containers.

These efforts also mitigated 389,000 tonnes of carbon that would have been emitted in the production of virgin material – comparable to carbon that could be sequestered by planting 17,600 hectares of spekboom.

The results also detail the sponsorship of almost R9 million worth of equipment and infrastructure to support the work of grassroots collection businesses, and the training of over 7,300 participants in recycling skills development workshops.

In addition, these companies, through their membership of Petco, provided a further R90 million in financial support to recyclers, which allowed the recyclers to purchase post-consumer packaging worth R600 million from recycling collection and buy-back centres.

Almost 70% of the PET beverage bottles and more than half of the long-life milk and juice cartons that consumers see on supermarket shelves are put there by Petco members.

Members comprise large and small companies – from retailers such as Pick n Pay and Woolworths to bottlers Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, and Twizza; FMCG brands Unilever, PepsiCo and Tiger Brands, and packaging manufacturer Tetra Pak, as well as niche brands like kombucha producer Happy Culture and hospitality amenities supplier The Bespoke Amenities Company.

With the South African paper and packaging sector now in the fourth year of mandatory extended producer responsibility (EPR), Petco chief executive officer Telly Chauke said members took their EPR obligations seriously, and that the organisation was once again delighted to report that it had met the legislated collection and recycling targets set by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) for the key packaging streams it represents.

“Petco has successfully met or surpassed the legislated targets for these materials. Last year, we once again met the targets for 99% of the packaging tonnages our members placed on the market,” Chauke confirmed.

“It’s significant to have continued year-on-year growth in performance against the backdrop of a challenging year for brand owners, retailers and importers, and the recycling industry.

“However, we are also very conscious of the additional value of EPR in terms of the social and environmental benefits of our work,” Chauke said.

“Meeting our members’ EPR obligations, while partnering with government, industry and grassroots organisations to build a more inclusive, sustainable and effective circular economy, remains our primary focus. There is also steady progress in recognising the elemental role of waste pickers in the ecosystem, with real steps taken to ensure fair compensation for the work they do.”

According to the data, since launching the new scheme for liquid board packaging, or beverage cartons, in 2023, Petco has quadrupled the collection and recycling rates for this packaging material – to 33% and 31% respectively for 2025.

With beverage consumption falling below the forecasted figures over the festive season, Petco also recorded a higher than normal PET bottle collection rate last year – 14% more than the previous year’s 76% – and ensured that 87% was recycled.

Petco chairman Ralph Jewson, who also represents retailer Woolworths on the board, said: “Over the past two decades, Petco has developed a tried and tested EPR model that offers credible reporting, having turned the ambition of bottle-to-bottle recycling into a circular reality. Today, this is a mature scheme with a fully developed value chain that continues to deliver results.”

Despite exceptional performance in 2025, Jewson said there were ongoing concerns about the financial pressure facing South Africa’s recycling value chain.

“As we move into 2026, the sector continues to grapple with high feedstock costs, rising electricity and fuel prices, expensive transport, softer demand for recycled material and increasing competition from cheaper imports. These challenges are affecting collectors, recyclers, manufacturers and brand owners alike, placing strain on margins, limiting investment and slowing growth across the industry.

“The recycling system can only function effectively when every part of the value chain remains commercially viable and there is steady demand for recycled content. Without stronger market support and fairer trading conditions, 2026 is expected to remain a difficult year for the recycling industry.”

Jewson added that growing future collection and recycling volumes would require all brand owners to design their packaging with the end of life in mind.

“The aspiration of circularity comes with the responsibility to make better design choices that become standard practice,” he said.