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Senior officials from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, will tomorrow, (Thursday, 3 April 2003) visit workers at a plastic bottle recycling factory in Blackheath, Western Cape, to observe how waste recycling was improving people's lives for the better.

The officials will visit the factory, Econo Recycling, as part of government's Imbizo Focus Week, which began on Monday, 31 March 2003, and ends on Sunday, 6 April 2003. The aim of Imbizo Focus Week is to give communities an opportunity to interact directly with government, where they can discuss issues on service delivery and the general development in the country.

Their visit comes just over a month before regulations controlling the use of plastic bags come into effect on May 9. The visit is aimed at getting a first-hand account from workers on how the recycling industry had changed their lives through job creation. The officials will further meet representatives of the local community who benefit by collecting the bottles and selling them to the recycling plant.

Date: Thursday, 3 April 2003
Venue: Blackheath, Kuils River, Cape Town
Time: 09h00 - 12h00

All media are invited to join the officials on the visit. For more information, please call Ministerial spokesperson Phindile Makwakwa on 082 850 9559, and for directions please call Mr Leonard Machelm on 072 172 3026.

Issued by Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

2 April 2003