Insights And Case Studies

The Zero Waste Foundation, supported by Don't Waste Group, joined forces with Pick n Pay's People n Planet to clean up the Milnerton Lagoon in the Western Cape. Our teams collected and removed over 15 bags of waste from the area, preventing re-entry into the lagoon. In addition to our monthly clean-up initiatives, we are excited to collaborate further with People n Planet on conducting more clean-ups across our country, and help claim back our environment from pollution.

In April 2021, the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), in consultation with relevant stakeholders, gazetted new amendments to the plastic bag regulations. Read our insight on these new regulations and our analysis on alternative options as well as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme.

The World Bank estimates approximately 2 billion metric tons are generated annually, and is expected to exceed 3.4 billion tons by 2050. As the world becomes more aware of the impacts of negligent practices in waste management, some individuals have found innovative ways to manage and recycle waste in their respective countries. We take a look at a few interesting “eco-preneurs” across the African continent.

The Zero Waste Foundation, in partnership with Springs Mall and the Don't Waste Group, conducted a clean-up operation at the historical Springs War Memorial site in Gauteng, South Africa.

How do we recycle food waste that is generated through operations and cannot be avoided? This instalment looks at how hardware can recycle food waste.

Managing tenant waste in a large office park, whilst ensuring compliance, transparency and accuracy, is challenging. Don’t Waste has worked closely with a 1.8 million square feet business campus in London, to provide customised waste reports for the management and their high profile tenants, aligned to the exceptional service management that the office park is renowned for.

Following our first installment on “Why circular economies?”, we now assess the how retail and commercial spaces can be used to support circular models in their respective industries.

Based on current usage trends, South Africa will approach physical water scarcity by 2025 and a water deficit of 17% by 2030 (ESI-Africa). This will be further exacerbated by climate change and polluted water sources. In support of this year’s theme of World Water Day, “What does water mean to you?” The Zero Waste Foundation, together with Don’t Waste, aims to create awareness on the impacts of pollution and illegal dumping on water bodies in South Africa, through clean-up initiatives across the country.

1,3 billion tons of food waste are generated globally every year. This 2-part series looks at how technology can help avoid and recycle food waste.

Through decades of experience in the retail, hospitality and commercial sectors, Don’t Waste understood the pressing need for best practice guidelines and interactive workshops to enable operational teams to run efficient waste management systems at their sites.

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have adopted a take-make-dispose linear model of how products are designed, manufactured, sold, consumed and discarded. 90 billion tons of primary materials are extracted and used globally. However, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (2019) only 9 per cent are recycled. This two-part series uncovers the benefits of circular economies, and how retail and commercial spaces can be optimized to support circular economies.

Forbes has declared 2021 “The year of the package.” With the surge in online purchases, purely to avoid CoViD-19 infections, followed an increase in demand for packaging. The refusal of some Asian countries to accept plastic waste has also popularised the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy. This widely adopted policy shifts the management and financial responsibility of post-consumer product waste from local governments to producers. Producers around the world are being held accountable by consumers, who are actively damning the impacts of post-consumer pollution- largely due to the non-recyclability of most packaging and products. To keep up with the growing trend of cradle-to-cradle models, corporates have gone back to the drawing board, and redesigning products for the environment: products/packaging that are recyclable, or have an alternative end-of-life use.