BMW SA - Business
Ms. Dalene Viljoen, BMW SA, Dept. T-50 Environmental Affairs,
Tel. +27 12 522 3381, Fax +27 12 522 3781
e-mail: dalene.viljoen@bmw.co.za
Postal Address: PO Box 2955, Pretoria 0001
Physical Address: Frans du Toit Street, Rosslyn 0200

Dept. of Environmental Resource Protection - Government
Mr. Joseph Mkosana
Tel. +27 12 308 8694, Fax +27 12 308 8674
e-mail: mkosana.joseph@tshwane.gov.za
Postal Address PO Box 58393, Karen Park 0118 or
Physical Address: Cnr. 7th Avenue and Ametys Street, Klerks Oord, Akasia 0118

In 1998, BMW South Africa pursued an ambitious plan to achieve ISO 14001 and BS 8800 certification within the year of 1999. From this followed an improvement of waste separation at BMW SA, whereby a large stream of first grade plastic films, which could be easily recycled, was generated.

More complicated to recycle however, was the stream of small plastic parts of different colours, sizes and sorts of plastic. In the process of finding a solution, the Environmental Manager at BMW SA partnered with the Plastics Federation South Africa (PF SA), an industrial non-profit organization. With the help of PF SA, BMW SA hired jobless persons to be trained as so-called collectors - especially trained to segregate plastics into the different sorts in order to sell them to recycling companies. After the training collectors would get a facility at BMW SA’s premises and receive the full stream of plastic recyclables from the plant to sort them accordingly.

Moreover, plastic waste streams of BMW SA were combined with those of the schools in the Shoshanguve area (the wider neighbourhood of BMW SA) as well as from the neighbourhoods of Pretoria. The infrastructure of BMW SA such as baler, weighbridge and suitable storing facilities, could be used for the recyclables from the schools, allowing them to make the most of their resources. Consequently, collectors also receive low grade plastics and other recyclables from the schools, thereby solving logistical and contractual problems with the recycling companies, still ensuring that plastic waste final recycling is favoured before disposal on a dumping site. At the same time jobs are created and school children are provided with an educational package about waste management, water management as well as agriculture.

The implementation of a plastic recycling programme further included BMW SA sponsoring so-called “Green Cages”. These cages were set up in public spaces, allowing environmentally conscious people to dispose of their household plastic waste - an initiative especially important in a country without any means of waste incineration.

The contribution to the three legs of sustainability can also be shown by the project’s contribution to the most important international conventions regarding sustainability, such as the Business Charter for Sustainable Development of the International Chamber of Commerce, to which BMW is a signatory. Especially with regard to the paragraphs

3: Process of improvement:

To continue to improve policies, programs and environmental performance, taking into account technical developments, scientific understanding, consumer needs and community expectations, with legal regulations as starting point; and to apply the same environmental criteria internationally;

8. Facilities and Operations:

To develop, design and operate facilities and conduct activities taking into consideration the efficient use of energy and materials, the sustainable use of renewable resources, the minimization of adverse environmental impact and waste generation, and the safe and responsible disposal of residual wastes;

and foremost

14. Contributing to the Common Effect: To contribute to the development of public policy and to business, governmental and intergovernmental programs and educational initiatives that will enhance environmental awareness and protection.

Furthermore, this project is to be seen in the context of the United Nation’s Global Compact, to which BMW Group has committed itself - especially with regard to

Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.

Finally, this project is also based on Chapter 30 of Agenda 21, especially with regard to the aim to increase the efficiency of resource utilization, including increasing the reuse and recycling of residues, and to reduce the quantity of waste discharge per unit of economic output. Chapter 30 in addition emphasizes on strengthening partnerships to implement the principles and criteria for sustainable development - this could be seen as the most important guiding principle for the Shoshanguve School Recycling Project.

Today BMW SA has four employees on site busy with baling plastic films and sorting small plastic parts. These people are currently in the process of founding their own business with the guidance and help of BMW SA’s Purchasing Department, which encourages black empowerment.

The School Project, which started in the year 1998 with some 10 schools, now involves 50 schools in the Shoshanguve Area, the wider neighbourhood of BMW SA. The pupils in these schools concentrate on different projects such as waste management (separation, collection and recycling), water management (saving and re-using water) and the cultivation of vegetables in the schools´ so-called food-gardens. The harvested vegetables are partly given to the schoolchildren, partly sold on the market in order to purchase learning materials. The parents of these children (often jobless) many times get strongly involved in this learning process, especially in the Food Garden programme, which they on one hand see as a means of having a useful task within the community, and on the other as a possibility to bring home fresh food.

A well received side-effect - aside of the obvious improvements in the participating communities - is the positive impact on the social life in the community. It was noticed with pleasure that the rate of vandalism in the participating schools has declined significantly.

This example of a successful partnership between Industry and Community demonstrates how, if all parties concerned sit around one table and want to make a change, sustainable development can start on a grass roots level and can grow steadily to the benefit of all parties involved. It can be replicated in every society, and can be extended from Waste Management into other areas such as Energy Management, Water Management or Health Services, to name just a few.

To inspire as many people as possible, information about the project is made available to others through various means. The current situation is reported by the former Akasia Municipality Health Dept., now the Dept. of Environmental Resource Protection, in a quarterly report stating the development of the different programs at the schools and the next steps in terms of the extension of the project to other schools in the area, as well as providing general information about community issues relating to the aims of this project.

Information of the project is communicated internally to the employees of BMW SA via magazines, Intranet, BMW News etc., but also externally through e.g. The Annual Report on Environment, Safety&Health. Since the project started, a lot of information and proposals for improving or extending this project have been received from the employees at BMW SA.

Since the partnership between BMW SA and the Dept. of Environmental Resource Protection has been described above, the focus here is on the near future of the project:

The next steps are first and foremost to foster this new partnership even further in pursuing the basic understanding of sustainable development, addressing all three legs of sustainability.

In this context, BMW SA has started a “reach-out-program” to their main competitors within South Africa - Daimler-Chrysler SA and Volkswagen SA - in order to promote the implementation of Environmental Management Systems within the supply chain. As this project originally started with the implementation of an Environmental Management System at BMW SA, it could well be extended throughout the automobile industry within South Africa.

Such an approach would at the same time be well in line with the “Green Cage” - Project of the Plastics Federation South Africa, which has already set out to conquer the whole nation. “Green Cages” have recently been set up also in the Northern Cape region.