Tag: landfill

Sustainability has become the watchword for South African corporates. They now grapple with both the public’s demand for environmentally friendly products and the requirements of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting. However, this shift is doing more than meeting these pressures.

The regulatory framework surrounding the disposal of sanitary waste in South Africa paints a vague and often conflicting picture. This confusion arises from a mix of legal ambiguities and ethical considerations. While the need for responsible waste management is evident, the road to achieving it remains far from clear.

Every aspect of our everyday lives involves the use of plastic in one form or another. From electronics to water bottles and cars to children’s toys, there seems to be an insatiable demand for products crafted from fossil fuel-based material. This results in immense environmental strain as landfills spill over into the natural environments and oceans, leaving traces of plastic in our soil and water sources.

e-Waste from electrical and electronic appliances and devices is becoming a major problem for South Africa. According to Gauteng’s government website, the country produces around 360,000 tons of e-waste every year, with the province accounting for 55% of that volume.

When you hear the word ‘carbon emissions’, images of towering chimneys at coal-fired plants, endless motor vehicles on the highway, and large-scale manufacturing facilities may come to mind. But have you ever considered the environmental impact of your company laptop? Research shows that 3.7% of carbon emissions, also known as global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), are caused by digital technologies.

The marriage of global expertise with local know-how cannot be overstated.  This is particularly true in the case of hyperscaler marketplace in Africa, which has enjoyed some tremendous growth in recent years. In South Africa, global cloud service providers (CSPs) like Microsoft, IBM, AWS, Oracle have expanded their cloud data centres which, in turn, has bolstered the hyperscaler market.

As technologies continue to evolve, digital signage now seamlessly integrates into the everyday lives of consumers and brands. The integration of digital signage into consumers’ lives in the retail and Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) sectors, in particular, has resulted in digital signage trends often times mirroring the concerns and changes that are important to consumers, making for a more efficient brand-consumer relationship with reliability and consistency being the key focus.

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations which came into effect in May 2021, aims to ensure that producers are accountable for the entire life cycle of the products they place on the market, from conception to post-consumer waste disposal. Its influence will extend well beyond the producers.

Life on earth is symbiotic, each component within the ecosystem plays a significant role – you only have to examine how the loss of the bee population today is affecting food systems – to be reminded of just how interconnected everything really is.

As the global population continues to increase, waste generation is threatening biodiversity and the planet as a whole. With the global population expected to significantly exceed nine billion people by 2050, of which some 2.5 billion will be living on the African continent, biodiversity is shrinking, even as the waste generated by billions of people grows exponentially.