Takunda Chitaka wins 2019 Excellence in Academia PETCO Award
A South African Ph.D. student Takunda Chitaka has received the 2019 Excellence in Academia PETCO Award for her engineering approach towards tackling plastic marine pollution. This recognition highlights the need for peer-reviewed research that supports strategic interventions in the areas of recycling, waste minimization, and sustainability.
The PET Recycling Company (PETCO) annual awards are given to people and organizations making strides in sustainability at the grassroots level across South Africa. The company states that in 2018, 98,649 tonnes of PET plastic bottles were recycled through their collective dedication and efforts, enabling PETCO to expand its collection network, build relationships with recyclers, and seek new opportunities to develop and support entrepreneurs.
PETCO chief executive officer Cheri Scholtz said the organization’s greatest asset was “the remarkable network of partners we work with every day.”
“We are therefore delighted to be able to recognize and celebrate the significant efforts made by our 14 worthy Winners towards the recycling of post-consumer PET in South Africa.”
One of the 2019 recipients is a Ph.D. student at the University of Cape Town (UCT) Department of Chemical Engineering. Takunda Chitaka received the Excellence in Academia PETCO Award for her engineering approach towards tackling plastic marine pollution.
According to UCT’s Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment website, Chitaka has analyzed empirical evidence since 2016 based on beaches in Cape Town to estimate the litter flows into the marine environment.
“On day one, you clean the beach of all the litter. The next day you return and pick up all the litter again, which gives you 24 hours of litter that has washed up onto the beach. Academically this is generally acknowledged to be a good proxy of what is flowing into the ocean,” Chitaka explained.
She analyzed five beaches and found one beach had approx. 36 items per 100 meter per day, where the other beach had 3000 items. She also noticed how the composition of the litter has changed.
“Ten years ago, everyone was concerned about plastic bags,” she said. “In my litter collection, I found very few plastic bags across all the beaches. Lots of polystyrene packaging, snack packets and straws were found. A mitigation approach focused on items associated with food consumed on the go may address a third to a half of marine litter sources in Cape Town.”
Chitaka hopes for her research is, “that it helps to inform the way forward for the plastics economy in South Africa.”
In their support of her and other using academic research to identify solutions, the PETCO annual award recognizes the importance of having peer-reviewed research underpinning strategic interventions into the broad areas of recycling, waste minimization, and sustainability.
Another notable award winner is nine-year-old ‘Waste Reduction Youth Warrior’ Rocco Antonio, Da Silva. He started the Future Kids Club in the Western Cape to create awareness and get the youth in his area to commit to participating in monthly beach and community clean-ups. Reports indicate that over the last 14 months, members of his club have collected in excess of 950kg of rubbish off a local 400m stretch of beach.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.