Petco Launches Campaign to Inspire Recycling Habits in South Africa
Petco, South Africa’s longest-standing producer responsibility organization, has launched the “Find Your Reason to Recycle” campaign, aimed at changing how South Africans think about recycling their used packaging, according to a press release from Petco. The campaign will be held from September 16 to 21 during Clean-up and Recycle Week, as part of a national drive to inspire more sustainable recycling habits.
Petco manages schemes for various types of post-consumer packaging and helps its members take responsibility for their packaging from the design stage through to disposal.
As a part of the campaign, interactive public spaces in Cape Town and Johannesburg will feature representatives from the recycling and waste collection industries engaging the public in a ‘play-and-win’ game, encouraging participants to share their motivations for recycling. Additionally, an online docu-series titled ‘Unpack’ will debut on Petco’s YouTube channel, presenting short, easy-to-understand episodes that bust recycling myths, explain packaging basics, and demystify the South African recycling process, from labelling to collection and reuse.
‘In South Africa, where issues such as climate change are often overshadowed by more pressing concerns such as unemployment, Petco’s Find a Reason to Recycle campaign is uniquely positioned to make a difference,’ Petco CEO Cherie Scholz said.
The campaign will also feature interactive screens in shopping malls in Cape Town and Johannesburg, providing tips on sorting recyclable materials and offering prizes, including subscriptions to private recycling collection services, vouchers for Petco, Pick n Pay, and Woolworths, and exclusive bags made from recycled plastic bottles.
On September 16, Petco’s YouTube channel will launch an online documentary series, ‘Unpack’. It covers essential topics like the purpose of packaging, decoding recycling symbols and labels, and tracking the journey of recyclable materials from the bin to the recycling plant.
‘As part of this Clean Up and Recycle Week, Petco is inviting all South Africans to find a reason to recycle. Whether it’s for the environment, the economy or society, every cause matters. Working together, we can conserve resources in the economy, build and develop waste collection and recycling infrastructure, create jobs, encourage packaging innovation and keep packaging out of the environment. All of this leads to a more sustainable future,’ Scholz said.
