Big Numbers: National Impact & Industry Insights

Why the big numbers matter in recycling

We understand that your bottom line drives your decisions and that without scale there may be no profit. So, when we talk about big numbers, they’re not just environmental achievements. They reflect how we’ve helped businesses like yours save costs, recover value and grow sustainably.

Last year, Mpact Waste Management diverted more than 700,000 tonnes of recyclables, general waste and alternative materials from landfill. As a business owner, you might want to picture what that looks like. We could tell you it equals twenty Olympic-sized swimming pools, but it’s more useful to know what that number really adds up to, and how 700,000 tonnes of waste contributed to South Africa’s circular economy, enterprises and environment.

We paid back R96,869,225 to our customers

Most businesses don’t recognise recycling as something that could be profitable. Waste is often treated as an expense, something from which to remove rather than to recover value. But waste management is a numbers game. It works with scale and volume. And in the right system, your waste can work for you just like any other resource in your business.

Last year, Mpact Waste Management bought 70,528 tonnes of recyclable packaging and paid out R96,869,225 to our customers. That material moved from our clients’ sites and distribution centres to our branches, where it was sorted, baled and sold to our paper mills and recycling partners. There, it was reprocessed into new material inputs for manufacturers such as Mpact Paper and Mpact Plastics, where it’s made into new packaging for our clients.

We turned general waste into resources and paid customers over half a million rand

Not all waste is packaging waste. Businesses generate general waste too, such as food waste, mixed materials, offcuts and expired stock. For many companies, this waste has no measurable value. For Mpact Waste Management, it becomes feedstock for the agriculture sector and a fuel source for the industrial sector.

Out of the 731,621 tonnes of material handled last year, more than 600 tonnes were converted into compost and refuse-derived fuel, while 2 011 tonnes of organic waste were turned into animal feed. For this, our customers earned more than R555,000. What used to be a disposal cost has now become an income stream for them: food waste becomes livestock feed, organics become compost, and combustible waste becomes energy. When waste is managed through a circular system, it becomes a resource that moves between industries instead of sitting in landfill.

We cut over 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions

Every tonne of waste that is recovered saves energy and emissions. Through our recovery and diversion operations, Mpact Waste Management prevented 105,567 tonnes of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere in a single year. Our business model has been designed to save carbon emissions through shorter transport distances, more local recycling and less reliance on virgin materials.

We know most businesses don’t always see the value in saving energy because it feels long term and disconnected from day-to-day operations. But efficiencies, especially environmental ones, have a direct impact on your business. Packaging and even products are often derived from natural resources. Plastic comes from crude oil and boxes from trees. When this understanding makes its way into boardrooms, it changes how decisions are made. Producing and managing packaging with less virgin material reduces our reliance on natural resources in the production of packaging. The benefits build over time, contributing to more sustainable business models.

What to consider when choosing a waste management partner

Waste management is more than just collection. It is about partnering with a company that has infrastructure at scale, access to waste streams that unlock value for your business and a robust supplier and collector network. Mpact Waste Management is part of the Mpact Group, one of South Africa’s largest recyclers and producers of paper and plastic packaging. Our network includes 14 branches nationwide, three paper mills, partner plastic recycling plants and on-site waste management that connect businesses directly to recyclers. We buy recyclables from businesses, transport and bale them through our branches, and feed them directly into our mills and partner recycling plants.

Choose the waste management company with the big numbers

Partner with the waste management company that pays back, cuts carbon emissions, turns general waste into feedstock, reprocesses packaging and sells it as new packaging back into your business. Choose the one with the supplier network, the infrastructure and a circular business model built on more than 15 years of experience. We’re on site, we understand your waste, and we have the systems to manage it responsibly. That’s how you get the big numbers in waste management. Partner with Mpact Waste Management.