How much do South African households in towns & rural areas recycle?

Abstract

In 2015 the CSIR conducted the second national survey on household waste recycling behaviour in South Africa. Focussing on the self-reported recycling quantities of the 1500 targeted households in towns & rural areas, the results show that 13.7% of households recycle some plastics, 12.3% some glass, 10.0% some paper, 9.4% some metals and 6.4% some of their WEEE. Four percent (4.3%) of households indicated that they recycle more than half of their plastics, and 2.4%, 3.1%, 2.4% and 2.9% recycle more than half of their glass, paper, metal and WEEE, respectively. Per province, the self-reported quantities recycled differ considerably, e.g. 20.4% of households in EC towns & rural areas recycle some metals and 19.5% in MP, compared to FS, NC and NW with 3.7%, 3.3% and 1.8%, respectively. More research is needed to understand these recycling patterns in towns & rural areas, as well as the barriers that prevent households from recycling all their recyclables.