If you aren’t sold on recycling, upcycling or any kind of eco-action, pop into your nearest landfill and take a look at what happens when we don’t do our best. This Global Recycling Day, we look at why rethinking waste matters and how it might just play a part in your next creative or business venture!
Hout Bay, South Africa (18 March 2025) — By now, most of us (hopefully) know what recycling is and why it matters. If you aren’t yet ‘sold’ on the importance of habits like recycling, you might consider visiting an overflowing landfill (South Africa is in no shortage of these) to get a better understanding of where trash goes and sits. No need to take a picture—much of the waste will still be there decades after your visit or even centuries. If this thought makes you uncomfortable, then it’s high time to start rethinking waste.
Today marks Global Recycling Day—a call to action that’s never been louder.
But is recycling all there is to reduce our waste footprint? And, can we do better?
While making recycling a habit is an essential start to a greener planet, it’s not the full sentence for those who truly want to make an impact.
Truly reducing our waste footprint requires rethinking waste completely. This also means rethinking our relationship with consumption, instant gratification and individualistic thinking.
Throw all of these foods for thought together, and you’re well on your way to better understanding your role as a helper to the environment. In fact, this role might just become your next creative pursuit or business venture.
The Secondary Resource Value Chain
This is a value chain that drives sustainability, economic opportunities and environmental impact. This is a space in which many South Africans are focusing their attention as it serves both people (who can make a living in this niche) and the planet.
How far-reaching could the secondary resource value chain become? Producer Responsibility Organisation Polyco’s CEO Patricia Pillay says that almost everything we throw away could have a second life.
“With new regulations like the Extended-Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, products and packaging are being designed with recyclability in mind. This means that majority of products can and should be recycled.”
Upcycling and the Circular Economy
Upcycling (also known as repurposing) is growing beautifully as a way in which people across the country are rethinking waste. The circular economy in South Africa is fast becoming a sphere of interest for people of all backgrounds—from waste pickers to designers and crafters.
Organisations like Taking Care of Business serve the circular economy through fashion and appliance waste, while Hout Bay non-profit Re.Bag.Re.Use is a shining example of creative upcycling magic for the way they turn plastic bags into viable and gorgeous accessories. Heck, there’s even a new initiative turning padel balls into furniture!
True to the well-being economy, these initiatives serve both the planet and people; crafters are able to put food on the table while working with materials already in circulation.
The Difference Between Recycling and Upcycling
Where recycling breaks materials down into their core elements to create something entirely new (glass bottles becoming new glass jars or winds, for example), upcycling keeps materials as they are, transforming them to have new functions or appeals. For example, glass bottles can become decorative vases, and plastic bread bags become crocheted shopping bags!
“We take something that would usually be thrown away and turn it into something beautiful and practical,” says Regine le Roux, Founder of the Re.Bag.Re.Use initiative. “Upcycling isn’t just about reusing plastic – it’s about creating opportunities, promoting material sustainability, and finding value in our waste.”
So, as you’re met with many posts, videos and info-bites related to the environment today, consider them with a welcoming perspective. A perspective of hope, a perspective you can help shape.
Or, there’s always that trip to the landfill if that tickles your fancy.
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