This International Coastal Clean Up Day, Nampak Liquid Cartons is joining Sarah Ferguson, South African endurance swimmer and founder of Breathe Conservation, in a campaign to clean up our coastal waters and reduce our waste.
It is estimated that 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the marine environment every year, equivalent to 1 billion elephants in weight. This creates a major threat to our beaches, sea life and ocean resources on which we depend. To help conserve our oceans, International Coastal Clean Up Day, which is held on the third Saturday of September annually, calls on volunteers and organisations around the world to hit their local beaches and waterways and clean up waste that can have a detrimental impact on our environment.
“At Nampak Liquid Cartons, we believe every small act to help the environment counts. International Coastal Clean Up Day marks an opportunity to make a difference to our sensitive marine ecosystem, which is becoming increasingly under pressure from pollution. By joining Sarah Ferguson and Breathe Conservation in their efforts for a plastic-free ocean, we want people to realise the importance of choosing more sustainable alternatives when it comes to packaging,” says Raymond Dube, Managing Director at Nampak Liquid Cartons.
Made from paper, gable top cartons are a renewable and recyclable packaging solution, which unlike some other packaging materials is less intensive on the environment to produce. In South Africa, paper in total has a higher recovery rate for recycling than plastic and glass. Nampak Liquid Cartons is proud member of Fibre Circle, the producer responsibility organisation (PRO) for the paper and paper packaging sector. We are actively working with Fibre Circle as our recognised Extended Producer Responsibility to set up the necessary infrastructure and alternative systems for the collection, recycling and reuse of material from our gable top cartons. The recycled paper from gable top cartons can be used to manufacture other products, such as cardboard boxes, kitchen towelling and takeaway food containers, which can be further re-used several times over, promoting a circular economy.
“In founding Breathe Conservation, my aim was to raise awareness about single-use plastic pollution in our oceans, and inspire change when it comes to our daily consumer choices. While International Coastal Clean Up Day is an opportunity to come together and remove waste from our beaches and waterways, it is also a reminder that we need to be more conscious in choosing sustainable packaging that can be re-used and recycled to minimise our impact on the environment,” says Ferguson.
Take part in on International Coastal Clean Up Day by joining Breathe Conservation and Nampak Liquid Cartons for a snorkel, reef and beach clean up at 8am at Vetchies Beach in Durban on 18 September 2021.
For more information, visit Breathe Ocean Conservation – Home | Facebook
