INTERVIEW WITH PETRECOZIM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER – MR TAWANDA MASUKA
TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF WASTE
Environmentally Sound Management of waste is a key pillar in achieving sustainable development. The private sector in Zimbabwe is leading the way in promoting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). A clean environment free of land pollution is essential to ensure we build sustainable cities. In this issue of the Green Business Gazette (GBG), we interview the best private sector-led waste management initiative in Zimbabwe, a project being coordinated by PetrecoZim (Pvt) Ltd. This interview was carried out by GBG Editorial Team and the interviewee Mr Tawanda Masuka (TM) (Chief Operating Officer – PetrecoZim), provides deeper insights into the operations of PetrecoZim (Pvt) Ltd.
GBG: Waste management is one of the areas for achieving sustainable development. Can you briefly tell us about PETRECO and the activities that you do?
TM: PetrecoZim (Pvt) Ltd is a company that was set up by some companies in the beverage industry to specifically address the problem of post-consumer (Polyethylene Terepthalate) (PET) bottles pollution. It was registered in 2011, but started operations in 2014. PetrecoZim was set up as a collective Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) effort by the beverage industry to address an emerging environmental problem premised on achieving industry self-regulation. Other problem waste streams at the time were diapers and kaylite which has since been outlawed due to lack of traction from the value chain. We have made great strides on the PET front to the extent that it is now a visible industry. A group of leading companies agreed to set up the initiative voluntarily based on international best practice and committed to fund the capitalisation and subsequent subsidies required to support the operations of the company. These companies include Delta Beverages, Schweppes Zimbabwe Limited, Dairibord Zimbabwe Limited (incorporating Lyons), Tanganda Tea Company, Mutare Bottling Company, Coca-Cola Central Africa and MegaPak Zimbabwe. AFDIS joined the initiative at a later stage. Membership was open to the rest of players in industry and remains open to bottlers, converters, brand owners and importers. The key deliverable for the initiative is to reduce the environmental footprint of post-consumer PET bottles in the country. Some of the activities to achieve this mandate are as follows: –
- Collection of PET bottles from the stream
- Conversion of the bottles into raw material for downstream industries, both domestic and export.
- Recruitment and training of waste pickers
- Enterprise development and promotion of recycling
- Researching and being the reference point for all matters PET in the country.
GBG: How are stakeholders viewing your work in waste management and are you getting the support that you require?
TM: As you would expect, waste management is an area that is attracting interest from various stakeholders and naturally our initiative has not been an exception. Various stakeholders including regulators, local authorities and communities do appreciate the work we are doing. However, the initiative can achieve even a much bigger impact if other industry players that are not participating in this programme and other similar programmes are held to account for their environmental footprint individually. We have a big challenge of “free riders”. We believe that the regulator has a bigger responsibility to play in this regard.
GBG: Which waste types do you process at your facility?
TM: We are a specialist recycler focusing only on PET bottles. However, we do have the capacity and competence to handle other solid waste streams such as paper and other plastics without changing anything on our model. We reserve the right to expand our product portfolio should there be a compelling case. In fact, some of our agents countrywide that we support with equipment and expertise, are already handling a diverse product portfolio, which covers a lot of solid waste streams.
GBG: Have you developed any partnerships with the private sector in order to manage and treat waste?
TM: As a private sector founded, funded and governed initiative, the private sector footprint is everywhere on our project. We are by definition an extension of the beverage industry value chain with respect to management of their packaging waste. We are therefore obliged to offer a waste management service to our membership, but we have been able to offer this service to other players outside our membership.
However, we experienced a lot of knowledge gaps during the formative stages of this initiative, being a greenfield project. We have therefore relied on some individual experts in the fields of material science and chemical engineering to develop standard templates for our key production activities and processes. In the end, we managed to achieve ISO 9001:2015 certification in our quest to achieve standards in waste management. We believe this is a first for the industry.
GBG: Your model has been successful in setting the pace on environmentally sound management of waste in Zimbabwe. Do you have plans to scale up and replicate your model?
TM: Upscaling is the next logical thing to do. We have covered a lot of ground in promoting the recycling of PET in the country as our footprint is already national. We are happy that this has by and large been embraced by all communities, providing livelihoods for a lot of people at the bottom of the pyramid. However, in order to achieve long-term sustainability, we believe that local waste beneficiation is the way to go in order to localise employment, create new industries and close the loop. However, this requires more funding as waste beneficiation tends to be more capital intensive as you move down the value chain.
GBG: What challenges exist in the waste management sector and how are you overcoming these challenges?
TM: There are many challenges in the waste management sector. Firstly, the market is very volatile and prone to global economic shocks thereby making the future very unpredictable. This explains why the world over, the sector relies on subsidies from the state, private sector or international organisations to survive. Historically, a lot of businesses in the sector have struggled to come out of adverse economic cycles. There is need for buffer funding to insulate and sustain the industry during difficult times. The sector is also a fertile ground for government regulation, locally and internationally which is a big risk. We have seen that the Green Fence policy in China and subsequent ban on solid waste streams in 2018 caused a lot of carnage in global waste value chains that relied on China as a market. Closer home, the developments in SA which provides the biggest regional market for recyclables is creating a lot of anxiety in the region. The industry is also subject to market distortions, misinformation and outright cheating. But the major issue perhaps relates to high costs which affect the whole country but are magnified in the waste sector due to lack of infrastructure, incentives and support systems. The ambiguous interpretation and enforcement of legislation creates room for free riders and uneven playing field whose ultimate effect is to undermine noble efforts by other players. It also becomes difficult to enforce recycling standards and best practices across the market when all the market players are not on the same page.
In terms of overcoming these challenges, we are doing a lot. The issue of uneven playing field and free riders is really dealt with at the regulator level. Apart from moral persuasion which hasn’t been working, we can only present facts and figures and our views for consideration. We are always engaging with the regulator formally and informally to lobby for certain positions which we feel are critical for the future and growth of the industry.
Right now we have flagged the issue of cooking oil bottles which we believe is a ticking environmental time bomb. We believe that the market issue can be dealt with by developing a domestic end-use market that localises employment and closes the loop. That way, the industry will be somewhat insulated from events and regulations in other countries. The strategy of exporting waste to other countries on its own is not sustainable, because it’s too prone to events happening in other countries which are uncontrollable. The issue of high costs is really up to the individual company’s strategy to contain costs.
For us, despite receiving funding from our members, we enforce standard business practices to reduce costs. But while this is noble and imperative, the solution lies in unlocking more funding to ameliorate the high costs burden. We therefore continuously scout for new funding opportunities by growing membership and engaging the donor community for support. But the objectives are not always financial. In actual fact, our key imperatives border on meeting social and environmental targets.
Some challenges to do with designs and recycling standards are dealt with internally at industry level through self-regulation. But in the main, we always share our experiences and expertise at various environmental forums to change perceptions and perspectives, influence policy and lobby for certain positions of interest. Distortions, misinformation and cheating are inherent challenges that are dealt with at a strategic level.
GBG: How are you mainstreaming gender in your operations and value chain?
TM: Fortunately for us, some of our members and partners have gender mainstreaming as part of their performance metrics. The issue of gender mainstreaming therefore becomes a standard reporting item. Our industry is traditionally male dominated but certain sections of the value chain like waste picking have high female concentration. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, we do have a deliberate recruitment policy that favours female employees in certain roles. Ordinarily some of our processes such as sorting, weighing and housekeeping are ordinarily manned by women to protect their quota. However, the waste collection space upstream is somehow dominated by women but this is not by our design. We therefore take advantage of the existing situation by encouraging other women in communities to encourage their peers and earn a living through waste collection.
GBG: Going forward, what message do you have for other stakeholders who are starting up waste management facilities?
TM: The message is very simple. Waste management is not a walk in the park. Aspiring industry entrants should expect to get their fingers burnt. However, there are bigger opportunities in the sector. Waste management is part of the big discussions happening on big forums on sustainability and climate change. This is the industry for the future. Ignore it at your own peril.
