South Africa boosts paper recycling amid plastic market challenges

As South Africa’s paper recycling rate climbs, strong end markets for fiber and clean recycling streams are driving the materials’ high recovery rate, explains the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA).

According to the association, South Africa reached a 63.3% paper recycling rate in 2025, up from 60% in 2024.

Meanwhile, PAMSA spokesperson tells Packaging Insights that plastic recycling streams cannot compete with paper’s efficiency, highlighting the differences between material recovery processes. However, the spokesperson acknowledges plastic’s usefulness for moisture sensitive applications.

“Many plastic streams may have limited or inconsistent end-markets, especially for lower-grade or mixed plastics. Plastics involve multiple polymer types, colors, and additives, which complicates sorting and reduces recyclability,” says the PAMSA spokesperson. 

Reflecting this trend, over recent years, paperization has seen brands switch from plastic to paper solutions, largely in an attempt to curb rising plastic pollution levels.

For example, Unilever recently announced its strategy to turn toward paper-based options, but critics like Greenpeace warned that switching out one material for another “shifts the burden elsewhere.”

The PAMSA spokesperson argues that local demand and market desire for recovered paper for packaging or tissue products creates a “pull-through effect” in which collected paper has immediate value and a clear end destination. 

According to the trade body Plastics SA, the country’s output of mechanical plastics recycling rate reached 28.4% in 2024. The South African Plastic Recycling Organisation puts the country’s input plastic recycling rate at 45.7% for 2019. 

Paper’s “intrinsic” qualities

The PAMSA spokesperson says that paper’s “intrinsic” material value and recyclability give it a “clear and practical” advantage in many applications. 

“All paper grades consist of the same fundamental material-cellulose fiber, bleached or unbleached. Plastic grades are made of different polymers, and some of these are completely incompatible in the recycling process.” 

Paper is also easier to sort than plastic, adds the spokesperson, with less risk of contamination and widely accepted across collection systems. The spokesperson notes that paper can also be recycled five to seven times before it loses quality. 

“It is recycled back into similar and essential products, such as packaging and tissue, rather than being significantly ‘downcycled’. However, process waste from the paper manufacturing process is being beneficiated into higher value and marketable products such as biochemicals and lignin-based products,” says the spokesperson. 

Paper vs plastic requires nuance 

The shift from plastic to paper packaging is not simple, says the PAMSA spokesperson. “It is more nuanced. Paper is not inherently suited to all applications — particularly where moisture, grease, oxygen, or liquid barriers are critical.” 

Plastic coatings require specialized processing streams, making the recycling of liquid board packaging, beverage cartons, and paper cups more complicated, notes the spokesperson. Recently, there has been an increasing barrier coating innovation that tackles the issue of liquid packaging’s recyclability.

Last month, Packaging Insights spoke to BASF, Flint Group, and Qwarzo to discuss the trade-offs manufacturers face when protecting against moisture, oxygen, and grease, while meeting recyclability goals.

The spokesperson adds that while paper will continue to expand its share in applications where it performs well and fits existing recycling systems, plastics will likely remain necessary in high-performance, barrier-critical uses.

“The biggest gains will come from designing packaging for circularity from the outset — using the right material, in the right application, supported by systems that can recover and reuse it effectively,” concludes the spokesperson.