ROADMAP TO 2025

The 'ROADMAP TO 2025' is a strategic document outlining the goals and activities of the South African Plastics Pact, a collaborative initiative launched in January 2020. The roadmap aims to transition South Africa from a linear 'take-make-waste' plastics economy to a circular system by 2025, focusing on eliminating problematic plastics, improving recyclability, increasing recycling rates, and boosting recycled content in packaging.

• The South African Plastics Pact established four primary targets to be achieved by the end of 2025: eliminating problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging, ensuring 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable, achieving a 70% effective recycling rate for plastic packaging, and reaching an average of 30% recycled content across all plastic packaging.
• The roadmap envisions a circular economy where businesses eliminate unnecessary plastics, adopt reuse models, and design packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable within the South African context. This includes rationalising plastic types and formats to improve recycling economics and efficiency.
• A critical component of the strategy is the transition of South Africa's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system from a voluntary, industry-led model to a mandatory, industry-led system under the guidance of the Department of Environment, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DEFF). This shift is expected to increase investment in recycling infrastructure and the development of end markets.
• The roadmap emphasizes the integration and protection of the informal waste sector. Goals include ensuring informal livelihoods are valued and that waste pickers are integrated into the municipal waste management system to increase jobs and improve dignity and gender diversity.
• To support the 2025 targets, the Pact intends to develop and implement 'design for recycling' guidance and On Pack Recycling Labels (OPRLs) to educate consumers and ensure packaging is designed for multiple lives and high-quality recyclate.
• The roadmap identifies the COVID-19 pandemic as a significant factor that caused severe impacts on the South African plastics waste and recycling sector, noting that the long-term effects may influence the rate of progress toward the 2025 targets.

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). ROADMAP TO 2025. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ROADMAP_5_10_20-3.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. ROADMAP TO 2025. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ROADMAP_5_10_20-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=ROADMAP TO 2025 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ROADMAP_5_10_20-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendroadmap, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{ROADMAP TO 2025}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ROADMAP_5_10_20-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }