Petco, in collaboration with our member Tetra Pak®, is leading efforts to accelerate the collection and recycling of liquid board packaging (LBP) in South Africa. Recent LBP activations in the Free State and Western Cape are encouraging more collections to help meet national recycling targets.

Thanks to our efforts to build a value chain for LBP, collection volumes are increasing and collectors are boosting incomes by seeing the demand and value Petco has created for picking up those old discarded cartons.

In the Free State, our activation at a local landfill site successfully encouraged waste pickers to start making the collection of LBP a priority. The number of sponsored bulk bags filled with these cartons on our visit was also encouraging, and a testament to the effect of our support.

Meanwhile, in Bishop Lavis in the Western Cape, we launched another activation with our member, Tetra Pak®. Despite the region’s dip in collection volumes over the festive season, on our visit we witnessed a steady flow of cartons. A local waste picker even returned the following day to sell more LBP that he had collected, earning himself a new mobile phone for his effort.

We trust that this will continue as more collectors start viewing LBP’s collection as a viable source of income in addition to the other recyclable packaging that they collect.

These and similar activations are a vital part of Petco’s broader efforts to educate and empower local communities, and thereby unlock collection and recycling in pursuit of the EPR targets.