Closure of Bambanani Pipes and Fittings (PTY) LTD
Press Release: 16 October 2017
After 19-years of operation, Macdonald Holdings has announced that it will be closing Bambanani Pipes and Fittings, its pipe manufacturing and coating division.
The decision comes after 24 months of irregular project work and sustained losses which have been unavoidable in the current market, despite every effort made to revitalise the business. General Manager, Mr. Chris o’ Neill says, “Unfortunately the business has relied on the public sector’s manufacturing and maintenance spend and as this has begun shrinking so has the ability to keep the doors open and profitable. It is never an easy decision when people’s livelihoods are at stake, which is why we have taken every step possible, despite two years of losses, to look at positive solutions for the business. Sadly though, none of these has resulted in a marked turnaround and as such the shareholders have decided to call an end to the business.”
Bambanani was formed in 1998 by a management buy-out of the ex-Hall Longmore operation that was based in Luipaardsvlei, Krugersdorp. In 2008 Bambanani became a member of the Macdonald Group of Companies and is a 100% BEE owned company with a level 1 BBBEE scorecard. It seems though, that despite these positives including a massive investment in a new facility and the very real consensus from clients of a brilliant product, that another once successful business is taking the brunt of a market downturn.
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About Bambanani Pipes and Fittings:
Bambanani Pipes and Fitting is currently located on a 40 000m2 facility in Roodepoort. The company provides manufacturing, coating and lining facilities, offering products in carbon and stainless steel for the use in various market sectors such as water reticulation petrochemical, power, paper, pulp, mining, construction, telecommunication, sewerage works and general industrial projects.
Website: www.bampipe.co.za
MetPac-SA sets its sights high
MetPac-SA, the newly-formed producer responsibility organisation representing the steel, tinplate and aluminium packaging industries, has identified the increase of the recycling of metal packaging as one of its main objectives.
Precious metals in the recycling stream
“Aluminium and steel packaging are the world’s most recycled packaging and are literally worth their weight in gold. Originally, beverage cans were made from steel, and have successfully been collected in South Africa for the past 25 years. In many regards, it can be said that we have lead the way for responsible recovery and recycling of packaging in our country,” says Delanie Bezuidenhout, CEO of MetPac-SA.
According to Delanie, aluminium and metal cans are regarded as high value items by recyclers, and therefore has the potential for generating greater income and securing bigger margins across the entire collection chain. “Buy-back centres continue to pay well for cans that are collected, thereby providing a much needed income for schools and informal collectors. We want to ensure that every can entering the market is collected and recycled and that everybody in the value chain works together – from the informal collectors pushing their trolleys, through to the scrap dealers,” she stated.
Recycling aluminium cans not only saves on scarce natural resources, such as Bauxite - the principal ore used for aluminium production imported from tropical and sub-tropical areas such as the West Indies, South America and Australia where it naturally occurs - but also on energy. “Twenty recycled cans can be made with the energy needed to produce one new can using primary aluminium ingot. Similarly, recycling one beverage can saves the amount of energy needed to burn a 100w bulb for 4 hours,” Delanie explained.
Spreading the message to the community
Over the past 25 years, the local cans industry has built an impressive track record of recycling accomplishments, thanks to the terrific work done by Collect-a-Can and their shareholders who have achieved much success with their recoveries and ongoing education about recycling. Founded by ArcelorMittal South Africa and Nampak as a way to proactively address the beverage can industry's responsibility to the environment, Collect-a-Can has played a major role in the recovery of scrap tinplate generated in the tinplate and can-making processes, including cut-offs, misprints, sub-standard fills, and most importantly used metal cans.
When Collect-a-Can began, there was no unified policy on addressing the growth of waste. The public was sceptical and automatically opposed to new waste site proposals. Since then, much has changed as thought and support are given to regulations for waste and environmental control. This has helped to improve southern Africa’s used beverage can recovery rate from 18% to around 72%. It is one of MetPac-SA’s key objectives to build on the successes the industry has achieved thus far with the effective collection and recycling of steel cans.
Industry taking responsibility for its waste
“We are also fortunate to have important end-users such as Hulamin on our Board of Directors, as they understand the important role recycling plays in ensuring the sustainability of our industry and the environment,” Delanie says. Over the past 75 years, Hulamin has intimately been involved in the recycling of their internally generated process scrap as well as the fabrication scrap generated by customers. They took this commitment a significant step further by investing R300m two years ago in a recycling plant that process and cleans used beverage cans, thereby enhancing the company’s capability in the recycling of aluminium scrap.
“Recycling certainly makes a lot of business sense to us and for this reason we have adopted the principle of ‘extended producer responsibility’ in our business. Simply put, this means that if we make a product, we also take our share of the responsibility for its recycling at the end of its life,” says Riccardo Benedetti, Commercial Manager: Metals and Recycling at Hulamin. “Recycling not only supplies us with aluminium raw material, but also ensures that products made from our aluminium are not lost to the precious aluminium resource pool,” he adds.
Scrap with worth
A key recycling collection channel for the metals sector is the scrap metals industry. “We are expecting the amount of aluminium recoveries from beverage cans alone to increase significantly over the next 5 years. In order to minimise the risk of illegal scrap exports, which ultimately reduces the locally-available scrap pool, MetPac-SA will also be closely monitoring and working with the players in this sector,” Delanie explains.
Delanie stresses that MetPac-SA is open to collaborating on recycling initiatives with different associations in order to step up its recycling successes. “We believe that significant benefits and synergies can be unlocked by packaging waste streams joining hands and working together. For example, material collection can greatly be enhanced through reverse logistics in the supply chain.
Driving the recycling message home
Although there are numerous recycling initiatives and incentives established in communities around the country, as well as collection points in close proximity to neighbourhoods, MetPac-SA believes that an inherent recycling culture still needs to be established in South Africa.
“We're adding our voice to that of other material streams in educating the public around the why, what and how of recycling. Once consumers truly understand the need and value of recycling and the importance of reusing metal packaging, they will stop citing factors such as drop off points or storage space as barriers to recycling. However, we do agree with the repeated calls by more established players in the packaging industry that an effective separation-at-source infrastructure needs to be implemented at municipal level,” she appealed.
For more information, about MetPac-SA, please our website at www.metpacsa.org.za
Load shedding does not have to spoil your holiday
Top tips for saving and celebrating a greener Christmas
Load shedding is a fact of life for the foreseeable future in South Africa and a little planning and creativity can alleviate a lot of the unpleasantness during the holidays. This is according to Evan Schiff, event director of the annual African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference and expo in Cape Town.
He says furthermore that higher electricity prices in South Africa have become an increasing strain on consumers’ monthly expenses and that “Christmas is a great time to introduce energy saving habits into a household as many easy and simple changes in the way we live can end up putting extra money into your pocket.”
Practical tips to plan for and cope with load shedding this holiday:
• Be prepared, keep a regular eye on websites with information on load shedding schedules and print these out. http://www.loadshedding.eskom.co.za/
• Create a Whatsapp group for your neighbourhood and keep each other informed.
• Make sure that there are enough candles, matches, torches, batteries and so forth for load shedding periods after dark.
• Be ready for it! Make sure all cellphones, tablets, laptops and toys are fully charged before the lights go out. This way you can keep the kids entertained with a movie, or at least be able to use the phone.
• Have fun activities ready for when the lights are off such as board games and family time around the barbeque.
• Keep a gas burner as a back-up in the kitchen to be able to heat water and do essential cooking.
An energy efficient holiday season
“There are a variety of ways we can use a lot less electricity this holiday season”, says Schiff, “such as using LED* Christmas lights which use 90% less electricity than regular Christmas lights. Consider investing in solar powered outdoor lights which can also be used on the Christmas tree and only come on at night.”
He continues: “up to 40% of all batteries are purchased during the holiday season so try to buy toys and gifts that don't use electricity or batteries. Gifts made of recycled material are also a great environmentally friendly gesture.”
More handy energy saving tips for the holiday season:
• Don’t use the tumble dryer unnecessarily – it is summer, so take advantage of solar powered drying.
• Turn off the room lights when the Christmas tree lights are on.
• Set a timer to Christmas and outdoor lights to limit the time they are on.
• Create a romantic and intimate atmosphere by using candles instead of lights.
• Enjoy the weather and celebrate the holidays outside with a braai instead of cooking on a stove! Or enjoy cold meats and salads during this summer season – it’s healthier and saves on power.
• If you’re going away, turn off/ the geyser, empty and unplug the refrigerator.Advice for improving energy efficiency in your home during the year:
• Invest in a geyser blanket. Unless the geyser is properly insulated, switching it off does not save electricity.
• Insulate the roof to make the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter and thereby saving on seasonal heating and cooling.• Switch off appliances at the wall plug when not in use.
• Replace CFL (compact fluorescent lamps) bulbs with LED.
• Use cold water to do laundry, it saves electricity and is better for the clothes.
Gathering thousands of energy professionals
For the past 14 years, the African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference and exhibition has helped to reduce the energy consumption of commercial and industrial large power users and has assisted in African utilities providing electricity and water to all of Africa. The event brings together thousands of utility professionals from across the globe to learn, share knowledge and debate the key topics that will secure the future development of Africa’s power industry. These include energy efficiency, improved service delivery, renewable energy, collaboration across the continent and investment in new power projects. South Africa’s state utility Eskom has been a key partner for many years.
The 15th edition of African Utility Week is expected to again attract more than 5000 attendees and feature 250 exhibitors, 190 speakers, eight conferences, free technical workshops on the expo floor, three high-profile plenary sessions and the coveted industry awards gala dinner. Stakeholders from across the industry and continent are represented, from Ministers of Energy through to power and water utilities, municipalities and regulators to investors and technology and service providers.
Attending the African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa exhibition is free when registering in advance and it showcases energy saving technologies and services for the industry and features hands-on demonstrations and workshops on the exhibition floor.
*LED=light-emitting diodes
Eskom’s 49M campaign encourages all South Africans to take the 49M pledge to save at least 10% electricity. http://www.49m.co.za
African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa are organised by Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and the African office of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK.
The dates for next year’s African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa are:
Exhibition & Conference: 12-14 May 2015
Industry awards: 13 May 2015
Site Visits: 15 May 2015
Location: CTICC, Cape Town
Website: www.african-utility-week.com, www.clean-power-africa.com
Contact for interviews:
Event director: Evan Schiff
Mobile: +27 83 415 3534
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Communications manager: Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone: +27 21 700 3558
Mobile: +27 82 562 7844
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Green Building Media is honoured to announce the confirmation of their second international speaker
Build It and They Will Come
Green Building Conference 2009
At this years Green Building Conference, high-levelled local and international professional speakers from different sectors will be sharing their knowledge and experience of green building.
Green Building Media Launches Video Format
Currently they are streaming in podcasts globally and are hoping to expand their selection to cover conferences and events, with speakers and experts presenting useful information on green techniques, designs, construction, and materials and products that are environmentally friendly.
