Local recycling at stake, warns South Africa's Petco

The global landscape for packaging and plastics is shifting faster than at any point in the past two decades, moving from an extended producer

What happened

Chauke says that 2026 will be a year of reckoning and test of resilience for the local sector, warning that ‘global signals are creating a volatile environment that threatens the sustainability of local recycling’.

Why it matters

Speaking on the status of EPR globally, Chauke says that what was once a ‘producer pays’ ideal has transformed into a strategic instrument for global competitive positioning. ‘While South Africa is progressing steadily, the domestic sector must now navigate a complex web of international regulatory shifts and volatile macro-economic headwinds.’

Chauke outlines significant developments in key markets that are expected to spill over into African and Middle Eastern markets. Central to this is Europe’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation which will become into force on 12 August.

‘This will impact how brands design packs everywhere they sell, not just inside the EU,’ Chauke says, adding that the regulation will hard-wire strict recyclability performance grades, minimum recycled content and harmonised labelling.

This news brief is based on reporting published by Recycling International on 2026-02-24. The original report is linked below.