Recycling Paper at St Francis
Our landfills are filling up at a rapid pace as the National Environmental Department tries to get to their target of zero waste by 2020. It has been reported in the Resource Magazine (the official journal of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa) that Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town each have less than 10 years useful landfill life left. Available land close to our towns and cities is rapidly reducing with urban development, necessitating the need for waste transfer to more remote landfills. This affects not only greater transport costs, but also the efficiency of removal with the trucks spending greater time on the road.
The life of our landfills can be extended by the reduction of the landfilling rate. This can be achieved by the combined implementation of reuse, recycling, composting and alternative treatment technologies. It is essential that an alternative integrated waste disposal culture must evolve and alternative methods of waste management investigated at all levels, starting with where the waste is generated at community level and in businesses.
It is incumbent on each one of us to play our part and change the way we do things. St Francis is an ECO Congregation and the ECO Group continues to promote environmental awareness on the need to reduce the impact that our life style has on the environment. The introduction of the Ronnie Bin is one of our initiatives and serves not only as a means for our parishioners to recycle their paper, but also as a visible sign to the Parkview community that we are committed to the protection of our environment.
We have established a partnership with Mpact Recycling, who owns the Ronnie Bin which has been placed on the east side of the driveway. When the Ronnie Bin is full, Mpact will be advised to come and collect the paper. They will weigh the paper and make a small payment into the Church coffers.
It is important that only certain paper must be placed into the Ronnie Bin as shown in the table below:
Paper Recycling into the Ronnie Bin
| What should be placed into a Ronnie Bin | What should NOT be placed into a Ronnie Bin |
| – Any form of paper (white or colour) – Newspapers / Magazines – Old memos / letters / Envelopes – Photocopy Paper / office paper – Old telephone directories – Old school books -Old damaged textbooks -Junk Mail / catalogues – Thin cardboard e.g. Cereal boxes – flattened Milk & Juice cartons (Tetra Pak – flattened) | – Polystyrene cups and plates – Paper cups and plates – Yoghurt cartons – Sweet & chip paper – Cigarette ends – Carbon Paper & Post-it notes – Tissues & paper towels – Waxed cartons (e.g. frozen fish cartons) – Wax-coated wrapping paper – Dog Food & Cement packaging – Soiled food cartons (KFC or Pizza boxes) |
