3.1 Overall goals, approach and regulatory model

The primary goal of the NWMS is the achievement of the objects of the Waste Act, which are in summary:

• minimizing pollution, environmental degradation and the consumption of natural resources,
• implementing the waste hierarchy,
• balancing the need for ecologically sustainable development with economic and social development, and
• promoting universal and affordable waste services

In developing an overall strategy for the NWMS, this regulatory model will be applied to each phase of the waste hierarchy.
 

3.2 Waste Avoidance and Reduction

Waste avoidance and reduction is the foundation of the waste hierarchy and the most emphasized step in the waste minimisation process. While waste reduction is hard to quantify, current available figures indicate that waste quantities (as a proxy for waste avoidance) are on the increase.

Waste reduction occurs largely through producer responsibility initiatives implemented by industry on a voluntary basis. At municipal level there has been very limited progress in implementing measures for waste reduction at household level. This is largely as a result of competing priorities for municipal services, and the broader capacity challenges faced by municipalities.

The NWMS will elaborate a programme of measures to accelerate waste reduction, which will be consolidated into a national waste minimisation programme. These measures will include, but will not be limited to:

• Setting norms and standards for waste minimisation. The Waste Act includes a discretionary provision for national norms and standards relating to waste minimisation. Government needs to consider the feasibility of norms and standards for waste minimisation as well as the precise products, activities or services to which these should apply.
• Including targets and measures for waste avoidance and reduction in industry waste management plans. Targets for waste minimisation for all the main industrial sectors will be developed progressively over five years, in line with the roll-out of provisions for industry waste management plans.
• Incorporating waste reduction principles into the design and packaging of products at the point of manufacture. This is considered to be more efficient than focussing on post-consumption responses, where the majority of current initiatives are focused. A balance must be found between encouraging design and packaging changes at the point of manufacture, whilst maintaining the momentum of current post-consumer initiatives.
• Encouraging and incentivising municipalities to implement waste reduction measures and campaigns. Performance targets for waste reduction need to be developed for municipalities in terms of their integrated waste management plans, based on the specific capacity of each municipality. It order to incentivise municipalities, it is proposed that government expand the “Cleanest Towns” Campaign to further encourage waste reduction at a municipal level.
• Reconsidering the current pricing of waste disposal so as to build in incentives for waste minimisation by consumers. Current tariff structures of municipalities fail to incentivize waste reduction.
• Implementing public awareness campaigns around waste minimisation including education and awareness campaigns for households and consumers.

Each of the measures will be further elaborated upon in the following chapter.

3.3 Recovery, Re-use and Recycling

Recovery, re-use and recycling is the second step in the waste hierarchy. Section 17 of the Waste Act provides a framework for recovery, reuse and recycling and describes a range of discretionary measures available to the Minister in this respect. The Waste Act also specifies that the NMWS must include objectives, plans guidelines, systems and procedures relating to amongst others, reuse, recycling and recovery. The NWMS must accordingly set out a programme of measures for waste recovery, re-use and recycling, which will be consolidated into a national recycling programme. These measures will include, but will not be limited to:

• Setting norms and standards for recovery, reuse and recycling of waste. The Waste Act includes a discretionary provision for national norms and standards relating to recovery, reuse and recycling of waste. In addition to the provisions set out in the Waste Act itself, it is recommended Government develop such norms and standards and identifies the activities to which these should apply.
• Including targets and measures for recovery, reuse and recycling of waste in industry waste management plans. Targets for recovery, reuse and recycling of waste for all the main industrial sectors will be developed progressively over five years, in line with the roll-out of provisions for industry waste management plans.
• Voluntary industry led initiatives for recovery, reuse and recycling of waste must be promoted. Most initiatives related to recovery, re-use and recycling are voluntary and industry-led. In some sectors, such as oil (ROSA) and cans (Collect-a-Can), non-profit section 21 companies have been created to promote and co-ordinate recycling. These industry-led and coordinated voluntary initiatives have largely proved successful. However there is considerable scope for expansion of the recycling industry and the improvement of recovery, re-use and recycling.
• The Waste Act requires that all activities relating to waste recovery, reuse and recycling use less natural resources and are less harmful to the environment that disposal of the waste. The extent to which existing activities comply with this provision needs to be assessed.
• The Waste Act allows the Minister, after consultation with the Minister of Trade and Industry, to require the recovery, reuse and recycling of products or components, and to determine a percentage of recycled material in products. These provisions will be used to reinforce industry waste management plans, and to address market failures. Guidelines for the application of these provisions need to be developed.
• Job creation in relation to recovery, reuse and recycling of waste must be promoted. The recycling industry, albeit largely informal, is currently making a significant contribution to job creation and the NWMS must harness and build on the job creation potential of the industry. Employment opportunities (including informal recycling activity such as ‘waste-picking’ on landfills) are concentrated within the collection and sorting phases of recycling.
• At the same time health and safety standards within the sector need attention. While it is acknowledged that waste-picking on landfills contributes significantly to the livelihoods of those involved, the health and safety hazards related to informal waste-picking on landfills is of grave concern to both government and industry. The NWMS will devise measures to accommodate the informal sector within the recycling industry.
• Separation at source has been promoted as a means to both improve the quantity of recyclates, and reduce waste sent to landfill. The NWMS needs to weigh the practicalities and benefits of separation at-source against the potential negative impact it might have on employment within the informal recycling sector.
• Education and awareness on the benefits associated with recovery, re-use and recycling are important to ensure public participation in re-use and recycling initiatives, and in facilitating mutually beneficial initiatives between government and industry. The NWMS will consider the practicalities associated with education and awareness and will devise measures which will best achieve this.
• Inclusion of ‘green requirements’ in procurement policies are considered to have the potential for a positive economic impact on the recycling sector. The feasibility and practicality of this will be considered in the NWMS.

It is proposed that these measures are consolidated into a recovery, reuse and recycling programme. Each of the proposed measures will be further elaborated upon in the following chapter.

3.4 Storage, Collection and Transportation

Waste services delivery, including the storage, collection and transportation of waste, is the main point of interface between the public and waste service providers. The how and what of waste services delivery also impacts directly on all stages of the waste hierarchy. The Waste Act requires municipalities to ensure access to and sustainability of waste services, to provide waste services at affordable prices, and to keep separate financial statements for waste services provided, amongst other. Key considerations for the development of an overall strategy for waste services delivery include varying notions for universal provision of waste services, the negative impact of current tariff policies on waste minimization, the limited use of external mechanisms of service provision and its low job creation impact and the impact of regionalisation of waste management services.

• Setting norms and standards for the planning and provision of waste management services. The Waste Act obliges DEA to set norms and standards for waste management services, and DEA has already initiated the process to prepare these. The Waste Act also provides for provincial norms and standards to be set in relation to waste management services, although differing provincial standards will raise issues in terms of the administrative capacity to monitor and enforce them.
• Municipalities may further set waste services standards for the separation, compacting and storage of solid waste, the management and directing of solid waste, and in respect of the control of litter. The Waste Act obliges waste service standards to be aligned to provincial and national norms and standards and further allows for the regionalisation of waste management services.   
• Targets for waste services delivery need to be set in municipal and provincial integrated waste management plans, with the objective of ensuring universal coverage of waste services within a realistic timeframe. While a general consensus on the objective of universal access to services exists, the understandings of ‘universal access’ and specifically the application of this term in urban vs rural contexts vary greatly. Within the NWMS, waste services delivery will gain its impetus from a refined definition of ‘service’/ ‘universal access’/ ‘universal provision’ of waste services, particularly as this has direct implications for the sequenced introduction of different targets and the development of guidelines for this purpose. In setting waste service delivery targets, government will take cognisance of the right of access to basic services and will ensure appropriate differentiation of targets.
• Waste service tariffs need to be reviewed, and guidelines issued in this regard. Current tariff policies create no incentive for waste minimization, and under-pricing of waste services over the years has led to an average 15% operating deficit in municipalities. Lessons should be learnt from the use of the current property-based and service-based tariff structures in the assessment of volumetric charging as a viable tariff charging policy which has the potential to stimulate waste minimisation. 
• Full cost accounting, which includes taking account of the full capital replacement, operating and environmental costs of delivering services is further considered to be the best mechanism to ensure proper pricing of waste services. A fundamental step here will be to understand the true costs of the waste service. The NWMS will provide guidance to municipalities to address the need for full cost accounting and will steer away from artificially influencing pricing to support recycling objectives only.
• Labour intensive and community based mechanisms for waste service delivery should be promoted. Despite the potential for external mechanisms for waste services delivery to contribute to job creation; only 13% of authorised municipalities have outsourced or commercialised service provision activities in 2007. The use of community-based service delivery mechanisms has also been limited. In evaluating models for waste services delivery, a key criterion should be job creation potential. Labour intensive approaches are currently being piloted by national government and initial estimates suggest a potential to create over 3 000 permanent, non-public sector jobs in waste collection. The NWMS will examine how best employment creation pilot projects such as these can be brought to scale. Models for waste services delivery will be underpinned by industrial policy objectives of SMME development, employment creation and added value for beneficiaries. 
• Provisions for the registration of transporters of waste with the relevant municipality need to be elaborated, with appropriate thresholds set for transporters, so that the regulatory burden on government and industry is minimised.
•  The regionalisation of waste services needs to be carefully evaluated. While regionalisation holds the prospect of reducing unit overhead costs (e.g. through shared disposal facilities, and reduced management costs), this is however offset by the significant rise in transport costs associated with regional disposal. The potential for reduced local accountability for service delivery due to the greater scale at which decisions are taken is also a concern. Given the cost implications of increased transport distances associated with regional disposal, the NWMS will need to give careful consideration to the costs and benefits of regionalisation.

Each of the measures will be further elaborated upon in the following chapter.

3.5 Treatment, Processing and Disposal

• Challenges associated with the effective management and regulation of landfills
• Challenges associated with the appropriate handling of hazardous waste
• Opening up new disposal technologies to facilitate waste to energy conversion.

• Establishing norms and standards for the storage, treatment and disposal of waste, including the planning and operation of waste treatment and waste disposal facilities. Such norms and standards are obligatory in terms of the Waste Act, and are vital to lay a common platform for the operation of both public and private disposal facilities.
• The lack of reliable data on the quantities and types of hazardous waste that are generated pose a challenge for effective treatment, processing and disposal of hazardous waste. The implementation of SAWIS will go a long way to address the challenge of data. 
• The large number of unlicensed and non-compliant landfills across the country needs to be regularised. Key challenges associated with landfills are ensuring that all landfills in use are licensed and ensuring that landfills are being operated in accordance with sound waste management principles. A programme of supportive measures, including access to MIG funding, should be combined with penalties and enforcement actions against operators of illegal sites.
• In addition, the NWMS will devise measures to reduce the disposal burden on landfills such as clean production and appropriate product design.
• Guidelines are required to determine how waste is classified as well as measures to be taken to treat, process or dispose waste. Such guidelines are currently being developed by DEA. 
• A shortage of hazardous waste disposal facilities is a serious problem for disposal of hazardous waste. The underlying causes resulting in the shortage of hazardous waste disposal facilities needs to be explored to inform the formulation of measures in this regard.
• Industry Waste Management Plans have an important role to play in facilitating sound waste management practices in relation to waste disposal, including hazardous waste. This should address hazardous waste generated during production and manufacture and should be extended to proper disposal of products containing hazardous waste components.
• The Waste Act makes provision for the use of special measures to regulate hazardous waste as a priority waste, which can be invoked in instances where industry fails to develop or adequately implement appropriate plans.
• Proven “Energy from Waste” technologies exist for both methane captured from landfills and waste incineration. However the capital costs, particularly of clean incineration technologies, as well as the transaction costs and capacity requirements for CDM are constraints that need to be further considered and addressed in the NWMS. The NWMS should set out a conducive regulatory environment for waste to energy initiatives.

The measures set out above will be further elaborated upon in the following chapter.

3.6 Remediation

Remediation of the effects of waste and pollution is the last resort in implementing the waste hierarchy. There is a large number of contaminated sites spread across the country, making this is an extremely important but highly under-regulated area. 

• The register of contaminated lands needs to be established and linked to the deeds register before investigation of suspected contaminated lands can take place. Standards for due diligence with respect to land transfers need to take these provisions into account.
• Definitions, technical requirements and standards for both the identification and remediation of contaminated lands need to be developed – remediation standards are schedule to be finalized by April 2010. In the absence of local standards, international standards should be used as a reference point.
• Potential issues of jurisdictional conflict will need to be resolved (both NEMA and the National Water Act contain provisions to address contaminated land).
• An evaluation of the available airspace for the disposal of contaminated land needs to be conducted, noting that this is limited.
• The NWMS must address the need to develop the specialist capacities in government required to manage complex decisions and monitor all the steps in the remediation process.

A risk-based approach to implementation of the provisions that is sufficiently flexible to accommodate a wide range of scenarios is required. Remediation requirements must be guided by the intended land use after remediation. It is recommended that exemptions from liability for remediation be considered for:

• government bodies involuntarily acquiring ownership
• persons who “innocently” acquired the land
• sites contaminated only by migration from another site
• consultants assisting developers in remediation of sites, provided there is no negligence
• contractors and transporters who cause no additional contamination
• secured creditors who act only to protect their financial interest