Deadline: 6-Jan-23
The 2023 PETCO Awards are now open for Nominations.
The PETCO Awards is the premier national environmental awards initiative in South Africa, recognizing excellence in reuse, recycling and waste minimization among businesses, organisations, community groups and individuals within the South African plastic industry. Winners are recognized for embracing Extended Producer Responsibility, contributing to driving plastic recycling and reflecting the principles of sustainability, the Circular Economy, SMME development, and the advancement of women in the value chain.
The PETCO Awards are free to enter, and they welcome entries from both small and large organisations, businesses, community groups and individuals all over South Africa.
Categories
- Environmental Education and Awareness Initiative
- Best Community Recycling Initiative
- Design for Circularity
- PET-buyer
- Local Authority Recycling Innovation
- Recycling Partnership Gamechanger
- Top Woman in Collection and Recycling
- Waste Reduction Youth Warrior
- Excellence in Academia
- Media Spotlight
- Worth in your Waste
- Climate Change
- Waste Minimization Star
Eligibility Criteria
- Environmental Education and Awareness Initiative
- Any private, corporate or government organization within the South African waste or recycling sectors that can demonstrate the successful implementation of a public-facing campaign eg in schools to reduce waste-generating behavior.
- Best Community Recycling Initiative
- Any community group initiatives or individuals who are involved in community recycling projects that can demonstrate how they have raised awareness in their communities via ventures such as reuse, recycling, waste minimisation, educational talks and other recycling projects and, as such, have directly enriched their community.
- Design for Circularity
- Brand owners, retailers, manufacturers, converters and product designers that display high levels of innovation and expertise in addressing the technical and manufacturing challenges associated with the responsible design of PET products, and their associated labels and closures eg increasing the percentage of recycled PET resin included in the products that they design and/or manufacture or who have made specific changes to improve the circularity of their product eg changed the color of their bottle from opaque or brightly colored to clear or changed the label design on a product.
- PET-buyer
- Owners and managers of small, micro and medium-sized enterprises, focused on recycling of PET and other waste streams, that have shown innovation and best practice in their approaches to drive recycling and waste minimization behavior in their business as well as in their communities. Those who can consistently demonstrate how they have changed their own circumstances through recycling as well as the impact on their environment for the better will receive preferential attention.
- Local Authority Recycling Innovation
- Any local authority in South Africa that has used creative and innovative methods to drive up their recycling, reuse and waste prevention performance.
- Recycling Partnership Gamechanger
- Combinations of waste management companies, recyclers, industry, businesses or compliance schemes. The entry must include at least two organizations from different sectors
- Top Woman in Collection and Recycling
- Women in the South African recycling sector that have demonstrated admirable leadership, business acumen and strategic foresight in growing South Africa’s economy through recycling and driving recycling efforts in South Africa.
- Waste Reduction Youth Warrior
- Any individuals between the ages of 6 and 18 who have tirelessly worked to drive recycling and waste minimization behavior in South Africa, through various interventions such as clean-ups (beach or inland) and education programs around eg PET recycling
- Excellence in Academia
- Academics and researchers that are currently undertaking research in the topics of waste minimisation, data management, Circular Economy principles, plastic pollution, marine pollution, life cycle assessments etc., that demonstrate intellectual inquisitiveness, insight, and growth while providing sound strategic and practical applications for research outcomes.
- Media Spotlight
- Journalists, influencers and media personalities who are actively driving media attention towards recycling, sustainability issues and a Circular Economy.
- Worth in your Waste
- A reclaimer or group of reclaimers who have made large strides in informing their communities about recycling and diverting precious recyclables from landfill.
- Climate Change
- An organization or individual within the food and beverage sector who has influenced their organization to undertake actions which seek to mitigate their organization’s impact on climate change. This organization or individual would have put various measures in place to eg reduce, reuse or recycle, implement cleaner production practices, use renewable resources and cleaner energy, reduce carbon emissions or fossil fuels released from day-to-day activities, plant/reforest land and/or implement sustainable farming/fishing practices
- Waste Minimization Star
- Any employee in a South Africa organization in a waste minimisation/recycling/sustainability role, who has driven substantial improvements across the organization or the wider sector. The nomination can be submitted by the employee or on their behalf by colleagues or employers.
For more information, visit https://petco.co.za/the-2023-petco-awards-are-now-open-for-nominations-2/