Overstrand Municipality is embracing recycling to keep the waste stream going to the Karwyderskaal and Gansbaai Landfill sites to a minimum as far as possible.
Glass, cans, newspapers, plastic water bottles and milk cartons, newspapers, cereal boxes and cardboard boxes are the most collected items that are being collected and transported on a daily basis to the respective Waste Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) where it is sorted and baled.
Our wine industry is growing fast and recycling wine bottles is therefore the logical next step to lower our carbon and waste footprint.
The separation of glass wine bottles from the recyclable bags is very successful at the MRFs (pronounced ‘murfes’).
The current volume of wine bottles recovered at the two MRFs within the Overstrand is just over 20 000 bottles per month on average, but there is room to increase this volume.
Undamaged wine bottles are sent to a bottle washing facility where the dedicated team remove the labels and wash the bottles before checking them for any defects. After that the clean wine bottles are returned to wineries for direct re-use. Damaged bottles are sent off for recycling.
Note that individual bottles placed in the clear bags for recycling are sometimes damaged during the collection and handling process; when this happens the damaged wine bottles are sent together with other broken glass to Ardagh, previously Consol, for recycling.
Please keep on recycling your wine bottles in order for the wine industry to keep glass wine bottles in circulation as this prevents them landing in the landfills.
For every clear plastic bag placed out by a household, a new one will be supplied as replacement when the full bag is collected.
Restaurants and households are encouraged to drop-off their empty wine bottles at the Hermanus Waste Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Schulphoek Road or at the MRF at the Gansbaai landfill site should they have larger volumes that they require to be disposed of.
Operating hours for acceptance of recyclable waste from the general public is between 08:00 and 17:00 from Monday to Friday and until 14:00 on public holidays that fall on a weekday. The facility is currently closed on weekends. However, recyclables can be left at the drop-off on a Saturday between 09:00 and 16:00.
