Packaging has a negative perception with consumers and environmentalists. It is perceived to be a waste of resources and a significant contributor to the growing levels of waste, particularly litter.

In both cases the perception is not factual as packaging saves far more than it wastes and in SA accounts for below 6% of general waste to landfill. Volume growth in packaging in SA has consistently been below real GDP growth, helped by significant and continuous reductions in packaging mass.

SAPRO and its partners (Polyco, WWF Nedbank Greentrust, Designed For Earth) developed a Design for Recycling tool that indicates the recyclability of a packaging item based on the details provided by the packaging designer. This is a FREE to use web-based solution that also produces On-Pack Recycling Labels (OPRLs) in an auto-generated recyclability report.