How Taigan™ assists customers in meeting key compliance requirements When It Comes To The Environment

South Africa has 59 million individuals, so there is a lot of pressure to limit the quantity of packaging waste disposed of in landfills which litter our environment.

A crucial tool for addressing the rising levels of packaging and more specifically plastic pollution due to increased population numbers is the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulation. EPR necessitates that brand owners and product manufacturers, converters, importers and retailers i.e the Producers of packaged goods manage their post-consumer packaging waste.

In essence, this means that the Producer is responsible for ensuring that the packaging products they place onto the South African market do not harm the environment after customers have finished using them and that the proper post-use treatment takes place.

Governments worldwide have implemented Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to control this issue and South Africa is no exception. As a result, mandatory EPR was enacted in South Africa on 5 May 2021 under Section 18 of the National Environmental Management Waste Act 59 of 2008 (NEMWA).

The introduction of EPR schemes makes businesses accountable for the products they place into the South African market throughout their life cycle and all stakeholders in the value chain are responsible for EPR and need to be subscribed to the EPR Scheme.

These are some of the key requirements for Producers to understand:

1. All Producers need to register with the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DFFE) as well as a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) who will establish and implement an EPR scheme that contains the entire value chain on their behalf.
2. Pay the appropriate monthly levy to the EPR scheme.
3. Fulfil monitoring and reporting obligations as required by the Act.
4. Producers and PROs commit an offence if they contravene or fail to comply with the regulations. Producers convicted of an offence under the Regulations are liable to:

• Imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years.
• An appropriate fine.
• Both a fine and imprisonment.

How does Taigan™ assist its customers with meeting key compliance requirements?

1. We analyse the problems and conduct yield tests. We further focus on solutions rather than just products. So when a client comes to us, we provide that client with an integrated packaging solution, which is premised on our ‘Going Green” environmentally conscious approach.
2. We ensure consistent performance, which will reduce pallets yields and, therefore, costs per pallet. We also provide training that educates customers on optimising wrapping, reducing costs per pallet and unnecessary wastage. This is especially important as the levy incurs an extra bottom-line cost per ton.
3. We have a core recycling program, which ensures that the use of a core is maximised to an average use 4 uses per core, our t.nano products are made of 30% post-recyclable content which makes the Taigan™ products more environmentally responsible with a reduction in CO2 emissions and a conscious drive to use less plastic per pallet, and our boxes are made of non-virgin recyclable corrugated paper, which is reusable and sustainable.

As Taigan, we are committed to working closely with customers by ensuring they meet their Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) mandates, whilst still being supplied a market superior product.