According to www.treevolution.co.za, recycling for your average suburban household in South Africa is a bit of a schlep: the infrastructure for collecting recyclable material isn’t really in place – yet. Households generally have to separate their rubbish and take the recyclables to a municipal drop-off centre or a buy-back centre because there’s not much in the way of kerbside collection. Many people just can’t be bothered.
The government wants to reduce the amount of plastic, cans, paper and glass going to landfills by 70 percent in the next decade or so. To meet that target, households need to stop simply throwing away rubbish and start implementing the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Here is a handy guide to how long some products take to decompose, so you can make informed decisions when it comes to the products you consume in your home.
• Paper Towel: 2 to 4 weeks
• Paper Bag: 1 month
• Newspaper: 1.5 months
• Apple Core: 2 months
• Cardboard: 2 months
• Cotton Glove: 3 months
• Plywood: 1 to 3 years
• Wool Sock: 1 to 5 years
• Milk Cartons: 5 years
• Cigarette Butts: 10 to 12 years
• Leather shoes: 25 to 40 years
• Tinned Steel Can: 50 years
• Foam Plastic Cups: 50 years
• Rubber-Boot Sole: 50 to 80 years
• Plastic containers: 50 to 80 years
• Aluminium Can: 200 to 500 years
• Plastic Bottles: 450 years
• Disposable Diapers: 550 years
• Monofilament Fishing Line: 600 years
• Plastic Bags: 200 to 1000 years
By Sarah Mackintosh.