South Africa’s premier environmental awards, the Petco Awards, recognises excellence in reuse, recycling and waste minimisation when it comes to packaging. Its range of categories are open to all types of changemakers – from individuals and community groups to businesses and organisations – nationwide.
Winners are recognised for embracing Extended Producer Responsibility, contributing to driving collection and recycling, and reflecting the principles of sustainability, the circular economy, design for recycling, SMME development and integrating the informal sector into the value chain.
You can nominate any individual, company or group that you feel meets the criteria in one or more categories. Please provide a detailed and comprehensive motivation for your nominee.
Entry is free of charge and the deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday, 5 February 2027.
The Petco Awards are presented annually as part of our mid-year AGM (date and time to be confirmed).
About the award: This category recognises initiatives that stimulate innovative ideas that increase collection and recycling, as well as public-facing campaigns that have successfully addressed a waste management challenge (such as waste and the waste hierarchy, anti-littering awareness, reducing reliance on landfill, increasing recycling, boosting reuse, or reducing waste-generating behaviour specifically amongst South African consumers).
Who should enter: Any private, corporate or government organisation within the South African waste, collection and recycling sectors that can demonstrate the successful implementation of a public-facing campaign (e.g. in schools) to reduce waste-generating behaviour.
About the award: This category recognises an individual or organisation whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful business ventures or projects in the collection or recycling industry that directly benefit and uplift the communities within which they operate.
Who should enter: Any community group initiatives or individuals who are involved in community collection and recycling projects. Nominees should be able to demonstrate how they have raised awareness in and directly enriched their communities through ventures such as reuse, recycling, waste minimisation, educational talks and other recycling projects
About the award: This category recognises someone whose entrepreneurial insight, ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained a successful, growing business venture in the collection and recycling industry.
Who should enter: Owners and managers of small, micro and medium-sized enterprises focused on collecting and recycling packaging. They must show innovation and best practice in their approaches to driving recycling and waste minimisation behaviour in their business and in their communities. Preference will be given to those who can systematically demonstrate how they have improved their own circumstances and the environment through collecting recyclable packaging.
About the award: This category recognises the best kerbside collection projects/separation at source (S@S) initiatives in South Africa. This category celebrates the longest-running, most effective and efficient, affordable, and best-executed projects, whether led by a small company or a corporate entity.
Who should enter: Small companies, corporate entities or municipalities running kerbside collection projects/separation at source (S@S) initiatives that demonstrate longevity, efficiency, and excellence in waste management practices. Entrants should showcase their commitment to sustainable collection methods, cost-effectiveness, and innovation in sorting processes.
About the award: This category recognises partnerships, including government (municipal, provincial or national), regulatory agencies, community organisations and private industry, that have successfully implemented game-changing initiatives, policies or programmes that advance collection, recycling and sustainability in South Africa. Examples include, but are not limited to, increased recycling participation, targeted recycling or reuse awareness campaigns, and improving waste management. Motivations must include tangible examples of how the partnership has resulted in meaningful recycling outcomes or breakthroughs.
Who should enter: Collaborations between waste management companies, recyclers, industry, businesses or compliance schemes. The entry must include at least two organisations from different sectors.
About the award: This category recognises municipalities that demonstrate leadership in implementing effective separation-at-source (S@S), kerbside collection and household recycling programmes. It celebrates innovative, cost-effective and efficient approaches that strengthen sustainable recycling systems, increase public participation and deliver lasting, measurable improvements in material recovery. This may include municipal drop-off facilities, buy-back centres and partnerships with informal waste collectors, recognising a range of locally appropriate collection models.
Who should enter: South African municipalities implementing these programmes independently or in partnership with other stakeholders. Entrants must demonstrate municipal involvement, community participation, operational efficiency, measurable recycling outcomes and long-term sustainability. Evidence should include collection or recovery volumes, community participation, cost-effectiveness and the long-term viability of the programme.
About the award: This category recognises organisations, programmes and initiatives that strengthen waste pickers’ livelihoods, improve working conditions and support their meaningful integration into South Africa’s collection & recycling value chain. It celebrates efforts that advance economic empowerment, skills development, access to resources and markets, recognition of waste picker contributions and improved participation in recycling systems. Initiatives should show meaningful waste picker participation in programme design and implementation, alongside sustainable improvements in livelihoods and economic opportunities.
Who should enter: Non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, development partners, municipalities, businesses and other stakeholders implementing initiatives that benefit waste pickers. Entrants must demonstrate tangible outcomes, such as improved income opportunities, access to markets and infrastructure, training, safer working conditions or stronger integration into the recycling value chain.
About the award: This category recognises initiatives that advance the participation, economic empowerment and inclusion of women, youth and persons with disabilities in South Africa’s packaging collection and recycling value chain. It celebrates initiatives that translate transformation commitments into practical opportunities through entrepreneurship, business development, employment, skills development, training and leadership.
Who should enter: Petco members, businesses, municipalities, SMMEs, cooperatives, non-profit organisations and other stakeholders implementing initiatives that advance the economic participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities in the packaging collection and recycling value chain. Entrants should demonstrate impact for the beneficiary group(s) served, with fair assessment of outcomes relative to the initiative’s scale rather than beneficiary numbers alone.
About the award: This category celebrates packaging that has been designed with careful consideration of resources in mind. Packaging that incorporates recycled or renewable content, or that has improved the product’s compatibility with recycling infrastructure in South Africa will be considered. Factors such as reusability, identifiability, end-of-life solutions, waste minimisation, closed-loop processes etc, will be taken into account.
Who should enter: Brand owners, retailers, manufacturers, converters and designers that display high levels of innovation and expertise in addressing the technical and manufacturing challenges associated with responsible packaging design.
About the award: This category recognises Petco projects that have previously been supported with infrastructure or equipment or training and have taken that support and catapulted their businesses to the next level, leading to an increase in the cleanliness in the community, improvement in waste management in the area, creation of income opportunities for those living in and around the area in which they operate and increased collection and reprocessing of valuable recyclable packaging, leading to an increased amount of diversion of this packaging from landfill.
Who should enter: Projects, SMME’s, co-operatives or individuals who have been supported by Petco in the past and who can demonstrate significant growth since this support.
About the award: This category recognises practical technology deployments that directly enable circular economy outcomes in South Africa - including data systems, traceability tools digital buy-back models, AI-assisted sorting, and reverse-logistics intelligence. Digital solutions that facilitate the payment of the waste picker service fee (as required under Section 18) are strongly encouraged. The focus is on tech that is live, proven and improving the efficiency, transparency or recoverability of post-consumer materials.
Who should enter: Organisations or innovators who have deployed technology that improves data visibility, traceability, recovery efficiency or value chain transparency — and can demonstrate real-world adoption and measurable outcomes in South Africa’s packaging and recycling ecosystem. Entrants should be able to show how their solution unlocks circular value — not only theoretical concepts or prototypes. *Please note that this category will have a small-to-medium and a large category.
We welcome nominations from anyone countrywide and we are excited to read your submissions! For any queries on submissions, please email marketing@petco.co.za.
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