DEDICATED TO MAKING A DIFFERENCE
World Business Council for
Sustainable Development
Case study
2004
Collect-a-Can
Inspiring entrepreneurial endeavors
Currently, trade, domestic, and industrial wastes amount to millions of tonnes per annum.
Significant quantities of hazardous elements go to special landfills. Recovering and
recycling steel and aluminium cans used for beverages, aerosols, oil, paints and clean
food reduces the need for landfill and thereby extends the life of existing landfill sites.
Additionally, through the Collect-a-Can system, those who collect cans sell them for
recycling and make a living doing so.
Collect-a-Can was established in 1993 by Iscor – an
African steel maker – and Nampak – an African packaging
company – to proactively address the possibilities raised
by steel beverage can recycling, as well as its
shareholders’ portion of environmental responsibility.
Therefore its core business is facilitating the recovery of
used beverage cans in Southern Africa. While Collect-aCan is a not-for-profit company, funding by its
shareholders is seen as an investment.
The main objective of the company is to facilitate the
successful recovery of beverage cans for recycling in a cost effective manner thereby
ensuring that the beverage can remains an environmentally friendly product. Its corporate
vision sees a land where the beverage can exists in harmony with the environment.
Collect-a-Can employs 120 people and has five strategically positioned branches in
South Africa – Pretoria, Aeroton, Vanderbijlpark, Cape Town and Durban. In addition, the
company has branches in Gaborone, Botswana and Windhoek, Namibia. It also has
Agencies in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho.
The cans are sold to steel mills who require a certain portion of scrap steel to
manufacture prime/virgin steel. Recovered cans are used not only to manufacture cans
but all types of prime steel as well. The use of scrap is integral in steel making, thereby
saving scarce raw materials such as iron ore, dolomite, lime etc. Further, using a
percentage of scrap in steel making reduces the manufacturing costs and decreases the
length of the supply chain.
Job creation
Approximately 37,000 can collectors sell cans to Collect-a-Can, about 82% of whom
would otherwise be unemployed. This drive has inspired vital entrepreneurial endeavour.
Some collectors who run small business enterprises earn more than R 15,000 (US$
2,300) per month from Collect-a-Can, and in turn create jobs or supplementary income.
Some recovery enterprises employ as many as 65 people.
To induce collectors to recover used beverage cans, Collect-a-Can:
 Pays cash for cans (as opposed to offering coupons or other merchandise);
 Empowers local entrepreneurs and communities, soliciting their help in collecting and
returning by providing a source of income, thereby creating a win/win situation with
the unemployed people of Southern Africa;
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Creates awareness and installs a sense of environmental responsibility in local
populations;
Forms alliances with associated industries e.g. SAB Miller, Coca-Cola, Namibian
Breweries etc. thereby helping them continue to produce their beverages in cans in a
cheaper, environmentally friendly way. These companies actively support Collect-aCan and have added their voice to educational and promotional programmes to
spread awareness amongst communities. Breweries in neighbouring countries also
contribute actively in their respective areas;
Encourages fund-raising exercises with schools, churches and charities through can
collection.
Collectors are paid higher prices than
the reigning steel price. Three
processes are involved:
 Financial incentives are offered for
collectors to deliver to Collect-a-Can
branches.
 Where practical, cans are collected
from the collectors' location of
storage. Those who recover cans,
but do not have a vehicle in which to
transport it to a branch and
outsource this part of the process
Collecting cans in southern Africa
receive a lower price for their cans
 Bigger financial incentives are offered to collectors to deliver their cans on behalf of
Collect-a-Can to its point of sale.
 Collectors who compact or bale the cans, which reduces their transport costs receive
higher prices from Collect-a-Can.
Can prices are adjusted from time to time. Current prices for cans delivered to Collect-aCan branches are:
Used beverage cans
Aerosol, oil, food and paint cans
Clean food cans
Aluminium cans
R 44 cents per kilogram
R 15 cents per kilogram
R 30 cents per kilogram
R 5.00 per kilogram
(aluminium prices change on
a monthly basis)
Litter abatement
In 1990 the “Keep South Africa Beautiful” organization conducted a survey in 80 cities
and towns, which showed that beverage cans constituted 8% of the country’s litter. In a
follow-up survey a few years later, this declined to 2%. The most recent information
indicates that this figure now stands at less than 1%.
Collect-a-Can’s efforts in the recovery of steel beverage cans help municipalities, who are
feeling the brunt of financial infrastructure and space pressures, to reduce the volume for
landfill sites. South African municipalities report that over R 195 million (US$ 31 million) a
year is spent on litter abatement, which equates to 15 cents (2 US cents) per piece of
litter. Thus every beverage can that is recovered from litter saves the taxpayer at least 15
cents.
Eco-tourism
Another major advantage of can recovery is its positive effect on eco-tourism. Collect-aCan has been instrumental in contributing to keeping the Southern African sub-continent
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beautiful. Statistics from Kruger National Park show that, based on the number of
beverage cans sold in the park, Collect-a-Can recovers more than 200%. Hence, for
every can sold in the Park an extra can is brought into the Park.
Another example is the work done in the Okavango delta in Botswana. All cans used in
this pristine area are brought back to mainly Maun, where they are collected and brought
back to the Collect-a-Can branch in Gaborone.
Collect-a-Can’s impact
The Collect-a-Can initiative reaches the collectors who supply the company with cans by
word of mouth, as well as written and specially targeted advertising. By enlisting the help
of local communities and the people who need money the most, Collect-a-Can’s activities
have had the following impact:
 Based on its latest internal market survey, more than 37,000 people, 82% of whom
are unemployed, are earning or supplementing their income through can recovery.
 More than R 270 million (US$ 43 million) has been paid out to collectors in the last
ten years.
 Increased awareness amongst the public, especially the youth, who are sensitized
about the importance of environmental responsibility.
 In 1993, the Collect-a-Can project achieved 25% recovery of the total output of cans.
The company aimed for a post-consumer recovery rate of cans of 50% by 1996, a
figure that was easily surpassed. Since 1997 southern Africa ranks amongst the best
in the world in steel beverage can recovery. The current recovery rate for southern
Africa is 66%, which compares favourably with recovery rates quoted by developed
countries for beverage cans and is the highest recovery rate for one-way packaging
in southern Africa.
 Can litter used to contribute 8% towards total litter, but currently contribute less than
1%.
Challenges
The Collect-a-Can system presents numerous challenges, both for the company, its
shareholders and the collectors.
 First and most importantly, the unemployed people who collect cans do not have any
savings, bridging finance or overdraft facilities, or any infrastructure. Furthermore,
they do not have an employment record or any business management exposure as it
would be virtually be impossible for the company to have a record of all collectors as
not all collectors deliver their cans to Collect-a-Can directly, but rather to
entrepreneurs who in turn sell the cans. Additionally, there is a very high turnover of
collectors as there is no loyalty to collect cans.
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While the shareholders have agreed to fund the company, this does not mean that
the company has unlimited funds for its operations, although they see their funding of
the company as an investment and not an income generator. The recovery of cans is
not profitable; hence Collect-a-Can endeavors to recover cans in the most costeffective method possible and significantly reduce the financial burden for
shareholders.
To ensure that the company remains sustainable by minimizing its dependence on its
shareholders, Collect-a-Can has embarked on numerous self-funding initiatives,
including using its experience and network to add value. This includes trading in
associated products and acting as a consultant. The company has so far reached
approximately 80% self-funding through these various activities.
This last point creates one great opportunity for the company, which is to use the
synergies that exist between the companies actively using steel and aluminium cans to
create win/win opportunities by utilizing each other’s infrastructure.
Collect-a-Can is motivated by the need to ensure that its actions address the country’s
environmental needs. Given the increased focus on environmental pollution issues, the
company aims to alleviate the need for the government to introduce any detrimental
legislation pertaining to pollution and the beverage can, including placing customer
deposits on cans for their use or the banning of the beverage can. The government has
adopted a “the polluter pays” principle, and if the beverage industry does not proactively
take shared responsibility then the government will be forced to do so and its actions will
be far more expensive.
The beverage industry understands that it is more cost-effective to fund Collect-a-Can
than any government imposed alternatives. Through this system the companies also
address social responsibility by providing an income to those who are unemployed and
collect cans for money to survive. Collect-a-Can is striving to sustain their practices and
give them an income.
Unemployed entrepreneurs and local communities can be enlisted to help Collect-a-Can
achieve the company’s goals in a sustainable way. The company is therefore a unique
example of how manufacturers and suppliers of one-way packaging can address their
environmental and social responsibilities while remaining economically viable and
sustainable.
About the National Business Initiative (NBI)
The NBI is a leading non-profit organisation using business leadership and resources to meet the
challenges of a country and a nation in transition. The NBI, as a voluntary coalition 150 foremost
companies representing South Africa’s top business leadership, the NBI acts at the intersection of
the private and the public sector to contribute to political, ecological and socio-economic stability
and to enhance the country’s competitiveness as a key to sustained growth. The NBI is the
WBCSD’s regional partner in South Africa.
About the WBCSD
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a coalition of international
companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of
economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. Our members are drawn from more than
35 countries and 20 major industrial sectors. We also benefit from a Global Network of 40 national
and regional business councils and partner organizations involving more than 1,000 business
leaders globally.
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