Collect-a-Can (Pty) Ltd - a joint venture between ArcelorMittal South Africa and Nampak. - was established in 1993 to focus on the promotion of the recovery and recycling of used beverage cans (UBC) and other steel packaging in Southern Africa.
The Company was established to pro-actively address the steel beverage can industry's share of responsibility pertaining to the ever increasing environmental needs of the region. Collect-a-Can is dedicated to the minimization of can litter in southern Africa and to ensure that used cans and consequently tinplate, exist in harmony with the environment.
The Company is unique in as much that southern Africa is the only region in the world where the producers of material for steel cans and the can manufacturer have come together to lead and inspire the recovery of used cans.
Collect-a-Can is a "recovery" as opposed to a "profit" driven company and has proven that it is self-sustainable, by managing its operations and cost structures at optimum levels - assuring the respective southern African governments, environmentalists and the public of Collect-a-Can's long-term stability.
Collect a Can has six branches in South Africa. The company’s head office is in Kyalami (Midrand). Other branches are in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Vanderbijlpark, Cape Town and Durban. In addition, the Company has branches in Gaborone in Botswana and Windhoek in Namibia and is in the process of establishing can recovery facilities in Angola.
To date, The Company has purchased over R300-million worth of used cans from the public and therefore assists in poverty alleviation. It continues to purchase between R25-million and R30-million yearly while at the same time it supports SMMEs in recycling with infrastructure to conduct their business.
From 1993 to 2006, approximately 750 000 tons of used beverage cans were recovered in Southern Africa. Apart from the huge amount of landfill that has been saved, the living environment of all Southern Africans has been improved substantially.
Collect-a-Can’s vision is to be the most successful, self sustaining, one-way packaging recovery company, dedicated to the realisation of a land where beverage cans exist in perfect harmony with the environment.
The Company’s mission is to remain the leader in one-way packaging recovery and address the shareholders responsibility towards the environment. It has measured itself not only by the impressive recovery rate which today stands at 72 percent, but also by turning Collect-a-Can into a profitable organisation.
This effort has not only reduced the burden to its shareholders, but also set a benchmark to any recycling effort in the country from cost-effectiveness to a sustained recovery rate. The efforts of Collect-a-Can have also been demonstrated by the ten awards that it has received since 1997.
Collect-a-Can’s efforts in the recovery of steel beverage cans help municipalities, who are feeling the brunt of financial infrastructure and space pressures, to reduce the volume for landfill sites – thereby also benefiting the tax payer.
Litter is substantially reduced because used cans are recovered from public places and roads. Previous estimates indicate that can litter has been reduced from 8% of all litter to less than 0.5%.
Collect-a-Can not only encourages the recycling of cans, but also strives for all waste management and recycling from the source. All recovered scrap and used cans are either processed to add value (de-tinning and briquetting) or prepared and sold for recycling, resulting in a complete loop, called "cradle-to-cradle".
Over the past 17 years, Collect-a-Can has been at the forefront of minimising the negative impact of used cans on the environment and have been involved in the recovery of all scrap tinplate generated in the tinplate and can-making processes, including sludge, cut-offs (skeletons), misprints, sub-standard fills, and most importantly, the recovery of used cans.
Collect-a-Can’s CSI Strategy is governed by two social imperatives:
- Environmental responsibility and Management and
- Socio-economic development and job creation.
Files to download:
Collect-a-Can
A passion for the environment.pdf