MEDIA RELEASE New RNF members to play significant role in the future of recycling Windhoek, 23 February 2016 The Recycle Namibia Forum (RNF) celebrates its first members from the financial and mining sectors. The official membership of FNB Namibia and B2Gold is perfect timing says RNF Coordinator Anita Witt, as the forum has a busy line up of activities for the year that will benefit greatly from these memberships. The Hospitality Association of Namibia (HAN) and Eco Awards Namibia also joined as Associate members. Witt: In its quest to make Namibia the country with the highest success rate in the 3R s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, we are delighted to have formalized our relationship with FNB Namibia, given their long-standing support of the RNF via the Schools Recycling Campaign. Over the years, FNB has donated close to 20 recycling stands to schools in Windhoek and at the coast. We are also appreciative that the FNB Foundation is instrumental in enabling the town of Aranos to be the first to implement a recycling initiative which has the full support of the community - commendable in the absence of a recycling plant in the town. The FNB Foundation expressed excitement in their involvement in recycling. Manager Sponsorships and Donations at FNB Namibia, Ingrid Goeieman: The FNB Foundation is extremely proud of the new recycle venture with TROTS Aranos. Not only are we impressed with how the community comes together to recycle, despite the fact that they do not have a recycling plant, but also how they have committed themselves to driving the recyclables to Windhoek. What a fantastic example. Our commitment to recycling stretches back a number of years and through our Global United initiative this is kept alive on an annual basis. According to the B2Gold Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, goals are to promote responsible mining and prepare communities for when the mine closes. B2Gold CSR Manager, Auriol Ashby: B2Gold supports sustainable programs that will have long term impacts in its four focus sectors: Education, Environmental Conservation, Livelihoods and Health. We see value in being a RNF member because we strongly believe in recycling initiatives and clean-up campaigns; creating awareness on the importance of the 3 R s, especially targeting young people, and engagement with Government on issues that promote the recycling industry. The two new Associate Members will also make significant contributions to the RNF says Witt. HAN and Eco Awards Namibia allow us to reach and interact with accommodation establishments across Namibia. Hotels and lodges outside of Windhoek and Swakopmund face considerable challenges in responsibly dealing with their waste given the logistics of transporting recyclables to the closest recycling outlets. The relationship between HAN and the RNF will also ease and facilitate clean up initiatives, and joint collection of recyclables thus ensuring that the volumes warrant the costs of collecting the recyclables at a central point. Eco Awards Namibia is a mark of distinction for accommodation establishments that are planned and managed according to eco-friendly principles. The programme promotes the selective and careful use of our resources, promoting reducing, recycling and reusing. In the process an establishment can improve its profitability, often with very little additional expenditure.
Since last year the RNF has already played a major role in supporting the government call for clean-up actions by having our members such as Ohlthaver & List, Rent-A-Drum, Plastic Packaging, Coca Cola Namibia Bottling Company and Collect-a-can support towns such as Ondangwa (2015). For this year the RNF has so far assisted Henties Bay, Okahandja and Oshikuku with their clean-up efforts, encouraging sorting of recyclables and responsible waste management. The RNF is also in the process of compiling a booklet on the best practices for sustainable clean-up campaigns, which will include primarily educational material and evaluation of the event to ensure future support. This also sees the joining of hands of town councils, educational institutions and the entire community in a joint effort to clean up their towns. As an ongoing project, the RNF has been tasked to compile data and statistics on the volumes of recyclables in Namibia both incoming products (such as packaging material and containers) as well as the volumes recycled thus giving an overview of the recycling rate in the country. It must be borne in mind that there are a limited number of recycling plants in the country, thus for towns outside of Windhoek, Swakopmund and Oshakati recyclables need to be transported to the closest outlet. Since the inclusion of a SME category, the RNF now also boasts membership of smaller entrepreneurs such as Greenville Solutions, Norecca Waste Management, and Nam Eco Plastic. RNF is growing consistently and our new members join others such as Ohlthaver & List, Rent-a-Drum, Plastic Packaging, Coca Cola Namibia, The Document Warehouse, Mpact, The Glass Recycling Company, Trans World Cargo E-Waste, Collect-a-Can and City of Windhoek. The Associate members include NACOMA, NaDEET, Namibian Environmental Society and The Green Building Council of Namibia. In addition to implementing green initiatives within their businesses, our members play an active role in supporting the Green Revolution by helping the Recycle Namibia Forum to drive awareness and action on Reducing, Reusing and Recycling, Witt concluded. Ends, Issued by: Francios Olivier on behalf of the Recycle Namibia Forum Group Journalist & Creative Writer Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group c/o Fidel Castro and Independence Avenue Tel: 061-2075207 Fax: 061-255599