The aim of the “Design for Recycling for Packaging and Paper in SA” guide is to encourage designers to consider recycling possibilities, provide guidelines for those wishing to make their packaging (more) recyclable and provide everyone with information to prevent their packaging inadvertently interfering with existing plastic recycling streams.

Climate change and sustainable development are two of the biggest issues facing society today. It is therefore increasingly important for companies to reduce the environmental impacts of products and services through their whole life cycle. Companies failing to address environmental performance in product design and development will find it increasingly difficult to compete in the global market.

Packaging should be designed to satisfy technical, consumer and customer needs in a way that minimises environmental impact. This means, that amongst other things, packaging should be designed to use the minimum amount of resources for purpose and once it has completed its job, the scope for recovery maximised. These guidelines focus on the design of plastic packaging to facilitate recycling and represent a small but important aid for the journey to sustainable production and consumption.