Winner for the Best Recycled Plastic Product of the Year went to MAK Plastics, capping a remarkable evening for the recycler, which also collected a Gold for the BOPP Wash Basin. Chief Executive Officer of MAK Plastics, Hajira Khalid stands proud with her top honour award.] Event pictures available HERE.
Cape Town’s Silo District played host to the 12th annual SAPRO Awards for the Best Recycled Plastic Products on 21 August 2026, with MAK Plastics taking the night’s top honour as South Africa’s plastics recycling industry showcased how recycled material is increasingly being turned into commercially viable, high-quality products.
The South African Plastics Recycling Organisation (SAPRO) brought the industry together at SPYCED Restaurant on the V&A Waterfront to celebrate the innovators turning waste into worth.
The evening’s message was clear: recycling only works when there is a market for what comes out the other end. From wine bottles and personal care packaging to building products and household goods, this year’s winners demonstrated that recycled plastic can compete on quality, performance and design across an increasingly diverse range of applications.
“This event celebrates the growth and development in using recycled plastic in the production of new products. The significance of this work is that it creates end-markets for recycled plastics, leading to higher recycling rates and less waste going to landfill,” says Oliver Bonstein, General Manager at SAPRO.
Polyco PRO NPC returned as headline sponsor of the SAPRO Awards this year, continuing a long-standing partnership that reflects Polyco’s position at the heart of South Africa’s plastics recycling industry.
As the largest Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for plastic packaging in South Africa, Polyco implements an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme on behalf of a significant group of the country’s local producers, importers, brand owners and converters making it one of the key drivers of compliance, collection, recycling, infrastructure and enterprise development across the plastics value chain.
“South Africa has made significant progress in increasing the collection and recycling of plastic, but the next part of the challenge is ensuring there is a strong and sustainable market for the recycled material we produce, said Polyco CEO Patricia Pillay. “The products recognised through the SAPRO Awards show what is possible when manufacturers, brand owners and recyclers work together to find innovative new uses for recycled plastic. Creating that demand is essential if we want to keep more plastic in circulation.”
Polyco’s continued backing of the SAPRO Awards is one part of a broader commitment to strengthening the recycling value chain, alongside investments that support waste pickers, recyclers, and the small businesses that keep the country’s circular economy moving.
Other sponsorships came from EPR Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA), Petco PRO, and Starlinger Recycling Machinery
Across the categories, this year’s entries showed just how far recycled content can travel, from the bathroom to the wine cellar, from the factory floor to the art gallery.
Here are your Category winners:
In the Creative Category, the Strata Nova Light took Gold, a striking demonstration that end-of-life plastic can become an object of genuine beauty. It brought together Melt Studios as brand owner and Plastic Pioneers as the producer, using recyclate supplied by Ocean Plastic Technologies.
The Innovation award went to the Eco-Flat Wine Bottle, a reimagining of one of the country’s most recognisable products that challenges long-held assumptions about what packaging has to look like. Brought to market by Stellenbosch Vineyards and produced by Polyoak Packaging, the bottle draws on recycled material supplied by Safripol.
In the Packaging Category, Gold went to the Organics and TRESemmé bottles, a high-volume, everyday consumer product that puts recycled content directly into consumers’ hands. The winning entry paired brand owner Unilever SA with producer Astrapak, using recyclate supplied by Myplas and Kubili.
The PCR Demand Champions category, which recognises the products driving real market pull for recycled material, was won by the Tuffy Refuse Bags, a reminder that some of the most important recycling stories are also the most familiar. Tuffy Promotions is both producer and brand owner, drawing on recycled material supplied by Myplas.
Household names gave way to household objects in the Household & Leisure category, won by the BOPP Wash Basin, a practical, everyday item made better by recycled material rather than compromised by it. Brought to market by Ozz Cash & Carry and produced by RubyNova Plastics, it uses recyclate supplied by MAK Plastics.
The Construction & Building Sector produced three Gold winners, all drawing on recycled material supplied by Fenix Rising. The Demand Flush Cistern was both produced and owned by Buffalo Tanks, while KayaX’s KayaPod Duo and KayaSan Ablution Pod were produced by Fenix Rising itself. Together they made the case that recycled plastic is ready for one of the most demanding, high-durability sectors in the market: infrastructure that has to last.
A Special Award for Technical Achievement recognised the Plush Suede Renew Range (brand owner Adcock Consumer, producer Plastic Bubbles, using recyclate supplied by Myplas) for its use of polypropylene in a high-performance application demanding both flexibility and colour, the kind of technical milestone that quietly expands what’s possible for recyclers everywhere.
The night’s top honour
Winner for the Best Recycled Plastic Product of the Year went to MAK Plastics, capping a remarkable evening for the recycler, which also collected a Gold for the BOPP Wash Basin (Household & Leisure) and two Silvers, for the BOPP Storage Box (Household & Leisure) and the Corrugated PP Sheet (Construction & Building Sector). MAK Plastics’ recognition speaks to a business working to close the loop in the circular economy and keep recyclable material out of landfill achieved hand-in-hand with its partners, producers and brand owners, including RubyNova Plastics, CoreFlute, Ozz Cash & Carry and Wave Paper.
“To give recycled material a fighting chance, you need innovation, companies putting it into new products and into places it hasn’t been used before. The SAPRO Awards exist to find those companies and give them a platform, to help them reach the consumers and commercial sectors so that awareness and support for these products can grow,” says Bonstein.
Expanded list of winners with explanations of each
Construction & Building Sector
Finalist:
Silica Paver Tile by Atlantic Plastics & Eco Pave
This individual startup business has worked closely with a local recycler to formulate the best recyclate substrate for their application. They have done their own mould making and tooling. It combines silica sand and LDPE to formulate a sturdy, interlocking and robust outdoor tile that can be used to pave without cement.
Silver:
Corrugated PP Sheets by MAK Plastics, CoreFlute & Wave Paper
It has 10% PCR content and currently uses 80t/y. It comes in 4 colours, white, grey, blue and black.
Gold:
KayaSan Ablution Pod by Fenix Rising and KayaX
KayaPod Duo by Fenix Rising and KayaX
Demand Flush Cistern by Fenix Rising and Buffalo Tanks
The judges decided to award gold to 3 products in this category as they all scored very highly, and all have great impact on their sector and they go well together. These products are made from 100% post-consumer LLDPE (that’s rotomoulding material) and are deemed to be moving significant volumes each.
Creative Category:
Finalist
Recycled Plastic Turtles by Robert Rorich Sculpture
This artist collected beach litter on the otter trail and then made his own miniature mould in the shape of a turtle
Glitter Butterflies by Jan Raats Artist
This artist is situated in Montague and makes paintings that incorporate cut outs of butterflies from sheets of recycled plastics
Silver
Fragments Series by Marco Olivier Sculptures
(Fragments of Light 1 & 2, Fragment Framed, Fragments in Old Gold, Fragment Personalised)
This year we had a very impressive return of last years winner with a bunch of new designs and applications for his artistic sculpture methodology. This year he and his team submitted 5 entries, that the judges deemed to be equally beautiful and impressive and are a great product to get conversations started.
Gold
Strata Nova Light by Ocean Plastic Technologies, Plastic Pioneers & Melt Studios
This start-up company uses recycled or waste plastics in its special formulation to make creative patterns into plastic sheets which are then formed into brilliant designs and functions. This particular item caught the judges attention for the beautify and quality it offers.
it is a light fitting using these recycled plastic boards and a Clever technique to change the shape of the sheet material and emphasize the features of the board.
The judges believe it has the potential to become widespread consumer products and in fact they have already sold a few of these items
Household & Leisure
Bronze
Pioneer Boards by Malta Recycling, Ocean Plastic Technologies, Ocean Network, Plastic Pioneers, Sealand Gear
This product used recycled plastics mixed with shredded fishing nets to make a beautiful blue and white board which was then cut into shop fittings like shelves, countertops and panels. The great thing about it is how well it lends itself to engraving of logos making it great for branding in a store. Which is exactly what they did so well in this case.
Recycled Coffee Table by Ocean Network, Plastic Pioneers, Viro Solutions
In the second application of the boards the company teamed up with a packaging supply company called Viro solutions, using rejected materials from a product development process, mixed with some of their other substrates to make this attractive coffee table which went back to the company that sent the reject material.
Silver
Safeload Shesha Box by Reproplast, PIMMS Group and Stanton Global
A heavy duty, lockable, 150l delivery box for motorbikes, using 99% recycled Polypropylene. It has used 36 tonnes of recycled plastic in the last year. It is weather resistant, robust and expected to last 5 to 10 years in South Africa’s last mile delivery industry.
BOPP Storage Box by MAK Plastics, RubyNova Plastics amd Ozz Cash & Carry
This is a simple storage box design manufactured from 100% post-consumer metallized BOPP (Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene).
Metallized BOPP has long been regarded as one of the most difficult plastic packaging materials to recycle due to its multilayer construction, metallized coating, and complex processing requirements.
This innovation not only addresses one of the plastics industry’s greatest recycling challenges but also provides a scalable model for the future of circular manufacturing.
Gold
BOPP Wash Basin by MAK Plastics, RubyNova Plastics and Ozz Cash & Carry
This product is a simple wash basin design manufactured entirely from 100% post-consumer heavy printed BOPP, which is a very difficult material to recycle due to its inks, contaminants, and complex composition.
So far, they have moved 960 tonnes of recyclate into this application. The work to recycle this waste material into a high-grade injection moulding polymer is staggering.
This item has made a big leap forward in production capabilities out of a difficult market, using a difficult to process material. addressing a hige potential market sector, and potential to increase product range.
The judges really liked this entry because ofthe scarcity of BOPP related entries into the contest,
the difficulty to recycle BOPP,
the quality achieved,
the volumes driven that would have otherwise gone to landfill.
Innovation
Bronze
3D Prism by Rhodes University
A Rhodes University 3rd year student used recycled polymers to make filament and then 3D print a housing for some scientific lab testing equipment. The model delivered was a UV-Vis Spectrometer. His department are working to make low cost testing equipment for water quality testing in the field. By using recycled PET in their 3D printer, they significantly reduced the cost of purchasing similar equipment.
Silver
MajiTex Nomad Duffel by Sealand Gear
This product is fully made in South Africa using various b-grade, recycled or repurposed components, including recycled Nylon called Majitex and recycled Polyester. This product is doing a lot in driving the narrative, and being an ambassador for recycling, while perhaps not driving volume, its driving the conversation.
ALPAL by Reproplast, Pailpac and Almar Packaging
This product is made from 48% PCR and so far has shifted 100 tonnes of Post-consumer Polypropylene into a reusable warehousing and logistics solution. This items functions similarly to IBC’s, but is collapsible to 1:5th of the full volume, offering significant return journey savings.
PP is a priority growth area, as there are not enough end-markets for the PP recyclate to go into.
Gold
Eco-Flat Wine Bottle by Safripol, Polyoak Packaging and Stellenbosch Vinyards
This is an rPET wine bottle in a flat shape, using a plastic screw-cap and wash-off label. It has the potential to disrupt the conservative glass wine bottle industry. Shifting from glass to PET with 25% rPET uptake would reduce logistics costs significantly, while increasing the market for rPET.
The product is ideal for applications like in the aviation industry where weight and space are at a premium.
PCR Demand Champions
Finalist
Polycorp Pipe by Taha General Traders
HDPE Irrigation Pipe by Taha General Traders
These are high grade irrigation pipes. While pipes are not new, this new production line has provided quality and quantity amounting to 1440 tonnes annually of locally recycled HDPE.
Silver
Organics & TRESemme bottles by Myplas, Kubili, Astrapak, Unilever SA
This product first entered the SAPRO Awards in 2017 for its use of up to 50% recycled content. This year the judges were impressed to see just how much recycled material this product is shifting, considering how small the item is.
The Organics & TRESemme’ shampoo bottles have recently upped their recycled content to as much as 97% (for the black bottle) 96% (for the green bottle), and 50% (for the white bottle) and are shifting 232 tonnes per year. That’s a hec of a lot of bottles. It also incorporates a 40% rPP black lid, accounting for almost 10 tonnes on its own.
Gold
Tuffy Refuse bags by Myplas, Tuffy Promotions
A recent good news story highlights a collaboration to collect and recycle HDPE bottle caps, which are all too often lost to the recycling industry. This collaboration includes Petco, Myplas, Tuffy Promotions and Operation Smile.
This entry demonstrates a clever trick in applying win-win tactics where hard to collect bottles caps are collected, to the tune of 2940 tonnes incentivised by providing cleft pallet corrective surgery and wheelchairs to make the world a better place.
Packaging Category
Finalist
Vaseline Body Lotion Range by Kubili, Alpla SA and Unilever SA
This is a return of last years champions after expanding their winning formula of a 50% PCR core into the rest of their range.
Radox Feels Range by Myplas, Kubili, Astrapak and Unilever SA
This is a beautiful white bottle for bodywash containing 25% rHDPE. Using the same 40% rPP lid as the Organics shampoo bottle.
The Kitchen Syrups by Safripol, Extrupet, All4Labels, Mpact Plastics and Shoprite Checkers
a syrup bottle made from 20% rPET with an interesting label that contains recycled cooking oils, which is great for raisinging awareness about recycled content.
Bronze
Earth Friendly Cleaning Range by Alpla Recycling SA, KMA SA, All4Labels, Rocky Brands, T3 Plastics and Woolworths
The 50% rPET into a thicker clear bottle for cleaning products gives a slightly murky, almost gray look, which actually goes incredibly well and even gives a somewhat velvet impression to the eye. The Woolworths Earth Friendly Cleaning Range team and their partners have done a great job of embracing the results given by recycled content and working with it to elevate the product.
Silver
Harpic Bleach & Cleaning Gel Range by Kubili, Alpla SA and Reckitt
This product applied the multilayer technique to incorporate 30% rHDPE into a clean white bleach and cleaning product range. The design is already 2 years old and has moved 120 tonnes of rHDPE. Special Award for technical achievement.
Plush Suede Renew Range Lids by Myplas, Plastic Bubble and Adcock Consumer
This product scored highly on technical achievement and priority polymers, but couldn’t match the tonnages of others in this category, so the judges decided it would be better to create a special award for technical achievement.
This is an rPP lid, which was entered last year in black and has come back swinging, in all the colours of the rainbow and with various PCR concentrations ranging between 50-100%. The performance of the recycled material is comparable to virgin polymer in terms of colour and repeat flex of the pop cap. The judges noted how the caps return to shape instantly and don’t disfigure or stretch, this helps with the tight clipping lid around the metal base. The colours are bright and uninterrupted.
Gold
Organics & TRESemme bottles by Myplas, Kubili, Astrapak and Unilever SA
This product was first entered in 2017 when they had 50% PCR, returning in 2026 with 97% PCR in the black bottle, 96% in green and 50% in the white bottle, shifting 232 tonnes per year. The lid contains 40% rPP and shifts almost 10t/yr. It also won a silver in PCR Demand Champs.
This product scored highly because of the impressive metrics in PCR content and tonnages shifted along with the high quality achieved to be able to offer a consumer brand with such high PCR. This is a poster child for what we hope will become common practice.
Overall Winner:
BOPP Wash Basin by MAK Plastics, RubyNova Plastics and Ozz Cash & Carry
The judges felt that this product had added significant by recycling a low grade and hard to recycle heavily printed BOPP. The product is also driving large volumes of recycling. Consumers would not be able differentiate between a basin made of this material and virgin polymer, but using a recycled polymer makes a world of difference to our recycling rate.
