2.1 Socio-economic and Demographic Context

Socio-economic and demographic factors such as urbanisation, unemployment and population growth impact on future waste trends and service provision, and provide a backdrop against which the NWMS should be developed. While 65% of South African households had access to domestic waste collection services in 2007, access to waste services remains highly skewed in favour of more affluent and urban communities.

In South Africa, growth in waste volumes is projected to rise to nearly 67 million cubic metres by the year 2010. Household waste generation varies considerably by settlement type and income, with wealthier consumers in urban areas generating much higher volumes of waste. Urban residents typically also generate more non-organic waste, which is less conducive to on-site disposal.

While the growth in the volume of general waste produced underlines the importance of waste minimisation strategies, it also highlights the economic potential of the waste management sector, which has an estimated total expenditure of approximately R10 billion per annum. Both waste collection and the recycling industry make a large contribution to job creation and GDP, and there is considerable potential to expand this further.

The 1999 National Waste Management Strategy defines the development objective of the waste sector as the “Reduced generation and environmental impact of all forms of waste, so that the socio-economic development of South Africa, the health of its people, and the quality of its environmental resources are no longer adversely affected by uncontrolled and uncoordinated waste management”.

Research has clearly indicated that well-considered, effective solid waste systems can make critical contributions to public health, environmental sustainability, economic development and poverty alleviation by:

1. improving public health outcomes (through reduced opportunities for disease)
2. enhancing environmental quality (through protecting watercourses and preventing degradation of public open spaces)
3. reducing waste quantity that can clog up public storm water and sanitation networks (thereby reducing flooding, service failures and the need for maintenance)
4. supporting higher levels of economic activity (through stimulating growth in GDP)
5. contributing directly to poverty alleviation (through offering opportunities for employment, SMME development, and empowerment).

Effective waste strategies can clearly make a profound contribution to the achievement of the South Africa’s broader economic and social objectives. The NWMS will therefore aim to integrate the objectives of environmental sustainability and achievement of the waste hierarchy with the broader transformation and development objectives of improved public health outcomes, economic development, poverty alleviation and improved access for all.

2.2 Constitutional and Legal Framework

The Constitution of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) (the Constitution) provides the foundation for environmental regulation and policy in South Africa. The right to environmental protection and to live in an environment that is not harmful to health is set out in the Bill of Rights (Section 24 of Chapter 2). This is the fundamental principle that underpins environmental policy (such as the White Papers on Environmental Management and Integrated Pollution and Waste Management) and law (principally the National Water Act; and National Environmental Management Act (NEMA)). The Waste Act forms an integral part of this overarching legal and policy framework, providing specifically for the management of the waste sector and regulation of waste management activities.

The Waste Act is required to adhere to the Constitutional assignment of legislative and executive powers between spheres of government. The Constitution assigns concurrent legislative competence to national and provincial government in respect of the environment and pollution control (Section 146 of the Constitution) and exclusive provincial legislative competence to the local government matters of cleansing and refuse removal, refuse dumps and solid waste disposal. The Constitution allows national legislation to provide for national norms and standards relating to these matters where national uniformity is required to deal effectively with an issue. Accordingly, the development of norms and standards is the foundation of the regulatory system established in terms of the Waste Act.

National government is obliged to develop norms and standards on certain matters, while provinces and municipalities are permitted to develop standards provided they are not in conflict with national standards. National and provincial government departments are also Constitutionally obliged to support municipalities in the execution of their functions. The Waste Act accordingly establishes cooperative governance mechanisms for dealing with matters such as waste planning, appointment of waste management officers and performance reporting.

White Paper on Environmental Management introduced the concept of the waste hierarchy, and the concept was subsequently given legal expression in NEMA. The waste hierarchy approach establishes waste avoidance or minimization as the key policy objective of waste management. NEMA introduced a number of additional guiding principles into South African environmental legislation, including the life-cycle approach to waste management, producer responsibility, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle. NEMA also placed a duty of care on any person who causes significant pollution or degradation of the environment, requiring them to institute measures to prevent pollution from occurring, or to minimise and rectify the pollution or degradation where it cannot reasonably be avoided. The Waste Act echoes the duty of care provision by obliging holders of waste to take reasonable measures to implement the waste hierarchy whilst protecting the environment and public health.

Subsequent amendments to and regulations issued in terms of NEMA have provided a detailed regulatory framework for the performance of Environmental Impact Assessments, which need to be closely aligned with the provisions for licensing of waste management activities. Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs) are also designated and appointed in terms of NEMA, and these provisions form the backbone of the compliance and enforcement system that is required to support implementation of the Waste Act.

The Waste Act necessarily introduced a definition of waste, which has major implications for those activities that have traditionally not been treated or regarded as waste. Importantly for industry, the waste products and activities that fall outside the definition of waste are able to avoid the provisions of the Act. In order to clarify some of the definitional issues, a technical guideline will be developed by DEA as a basis for interpreting and applying the definition by both government and industry.

2.3 International Obligations

The Waste Act specifies that the NWMS should give effect to South Africa’s international obligations in terms of waste management. The evolving system of international declarations, agreements and treaties has provided an important context for the evolution of South African environmental policy in general, and waste management policy in particular.

The modern system of global environmental governance is to a large degree a consequence of the Rio Earth Summit and Agenda 21, which amongst others, advocated four major waste-related programmes: minimizing wastes; maximizing environmentally sound waste reuse and recycling; promoting environmentally sound waste disposal and treatment; and extending waste service coverage. The Summit set in motion a series of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) dealing with land-based sources of marine pollution, water quality, regional trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste, the management of toxic chemicals, and the trans-boundary movement of radioactive waste, amongst others.

In relation to hazardous products and waste, there are four principal conventions that apply. The Rotterdam Convention’s procedure for Prior Informed Consent became legally binding in 2004, and it promotes and enforces transparency in the importation of hazardous chemicals; the Basel Convention, adopted in 1989, addresses the need to control the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal, setting out the categorisation of hazardous waste and the policies between member countries; the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), which entered into force in 2004, requires that member countries phase these out and prevent their import or export. The International Convention on Chemicals Management is the most recent of these related conventions (February 2006) and adopted the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management.

In relation to pollution of water, South Africa has acceded to a number of conventions which address dumping at sea and prescribe measures to prevent waste on land contaminating the seas and waterways. These wastes include oil, solid waste, nuclear waste and debris from landfill sites.

Several obligations exist around measures to protect the ozone layer and mitigate climate change. One of the roles that waste management can play in achieving these obligations is the reduction and efficient management of gases released from waste at landfill sites.

The South African government is required to put measures in place to give effect to the provisions of the MEAs to which the country has acceded. The Waste Act contains a number of measures that are necessary for implementing these international obligations. The NWMS must seek to integrate requirements emanating from international instruments into domestic responses to waste management.

2.4 Waste Flows and Strategic Challenges

Reliable data quantifying the different waste streams is not readily available, which severely limits government and industry’s ability to devise responsive measures to waste management challenges. This highlights the importance of establishing a functioning waste information system to which all stakeholders have access.

The NWMS research has compiled available waste information for the main producer categories of waste, and Table 1.1 below summarises the estimated quantities generated per annum for the key categories and types of waste, as well as highlights some of the strategic challenges for each category.

 The NWMS needs to put forward an integrated strategy and set of mechanisms for responding to these challenges. At the same time the NWMS must respond to the broader socio-economic and demographic factors highlighted above, while meeting international and domestic legislative requirements shaping the current policy process. Environmental measures devised through the NWMS process must provide appropriate and responsive solutions to the issues raised.