The implementation of the various mandatory and discretionary provisions of the Waste Act is the combined responsibility of all three spheres of government, each with its own distinct set of responsibilities. This section will consider the allocation of responsibilities within government as set out in the Waste Act, the main public sector implementation mechanisms, the provisions for integrated waste management planning, compliance and enforcement mechanisms, and mechanisms to give effect to international obligations. Cross-cutting issues such as the role of advocacy, education and awareness, and capacity-building will also be described. This section concludes with a discussion on the co-operative governance arrangements required in terms of the Waste Act.
An important issue for the implementation of the Waste Act and the NWMS is role clarification and the separation of roles. This is important to ensure that there is no role confusion, and that each role is adequately fulfilled by each role player. In the process of compiling the NWMS three distinct roles have been identified, namely policy-making regulation, and service delivery roles. The different spheres of government are responsible for varying combinations of these roles. The research has raised concerns regarding the potential blurring of these roles, and has put forward proposals for the regulatory role, which includes compliance monitoring and enforcement, to retain as much independence as possible. This is particularly important in instances in which the same government department or agency is directly responsible for delivery of waste management services which need to be regulated as part of the overall waste management sector. The application of norms and standards, and the regulation of waste management activities, needs to be applied across both public and private sector providers equitably. Without clear role separation, it will not be possible to ensure unfettered and meaningful regulation of waste management activities, and the successful implementation of the Waste Act is likely to be heavily compromised.
In addition to those three distinct roles, there are issues relating to the vertical division of roles and responsibilities between spheres of government, and the horizontal division of roles and responsibilities between different government departments and agencies. These will be considered in further detail below.
Informed by Constitutional provisions on intergovernmental roles and powers, the Waste Act assigns clear responsibilities to each sphere of government in relation to waste management activities.
The Waste Act also makes provision for institutional arrangements for the coordinated implementation of its provisions. In order to properly coordinate implementation, the NWMS needs to consider the practicalities of the different roles and how each of these will manifest at a local, provincial and national sphere of government. The NWMS will give consideration to how the integrated system of WMOs can be best positioned to perform this integrated coordination function.
In considering the horizontal assignment of roles, it is important to understand how the provisions of the Waste Act interface with and build on the regulatory provisions of other pieces of related legislation. This policy harmonisation exercise also needs to draw on the Inter-governmental Relations Framework.
The Waste Act has created a specialized system of officers charged with coordinating waste management matters at each level of government. The Waste Act provides for Waste Management Officers (WMOs) to be designated at national, provincial and municipal level. The Waste Act primarily envisages a coordination function for WMOs, although it leaves the precise determination of their functions to the NWMS and regulations to be issued by the Minister. The Waste Act states that WMOs must co-ordinate their activities with other waste management activities in the manner set out in the NWMS, or in terms of a notice published by the Minister in the Gazette.
The Department has developed a guideline for the appointment of WMOs, to further define the role, powers, profile and rank of the WMOs. At a national and provincial level, where actual delivery of services does not take place, the role of the WMOs is essentially regulatory and policy-making. The Waste Act does make provision for support to municipalities in respect of the execution of its delivery mandate. WMOs at provincial level are anticipated to play a proactive compliance role by ensuring that municipalities have the capacity to deliver the services that they are required to deliver.
However, at local level, where municipalities bear responsibility for direct waste service delivery, it becomes important to create a distinction between service delivery on the one hand and policy-making and regulatory functions on the other. It is proposed that the local WMOs should not be involved in the waste service delivery function, and that their role should be to ensure that norms and standards are adhered to by the municipality. Thus the designated WMO should ideally not be based in the division responsible for waste services, and may be best placed in the Municipal Manager’s office.
The rationale is to establish an ‘independent’ system of WMOs at each level of government charged with the responsibility of making sure that the standards are implemented. This regulatory role can be further clarified in terms of regulations issues in terms of the Waste Act. In particular, the regulations should specify the authority and powers of these officers, the requirement to firewall them from policy-making and service provision activities, and the provisions for communication and management arrangements that will enable these officers to establish an effective regulatory system at local government level across the country.
Other regulatory roles anticipated by the Waste Act include a provision assigning the National WMO and Provincial WMOs the right to request the appointment of waste management control officers by holders of waste management licenses (Section 58 (1)) and to require the preparation of waste impact reports when the waste management licenses are being reviewed in terms of (Section 66(2)).
The co-ordination of the activities of the system of WMOs is further described in Section 4.8 on Co-operative Governance.
An important public sector implementation mechanism is the provision for an interlocking set of national, provincial and local IWMPs. National and provincial departments responsible for waste management and all municipalities must prepare IWMPs. The manner in which the IWMPs are developed must be consultative and municipalities are required to follow the prescriptions of Section 29 of the Municipal Systems Act. There is a tiered system for approving IWMPs, with national and provincial IWMPs being submitted to the Minister for approval, and local IWMPS to the MEC for approval, whose responsibility it is to ensure alignment with other relevant plans. The MEC may also request amendments to the IWMP or require adherence to the planning procedures set out in the Waste Act. National and provincial government may integrate their respective IWMPs into their broader development or environmental plans whilst municipalities are obliged to integrate their IWMPs into their integrated development plans. These provisions are important in ensuring that the IWMP is mainstreamed within the overall planning, monitoring and reporting systems of each level of government.
The actual sequencing of these processes, and the consequent annual calendar for planning and reporting needs to be set out . The NWMS will take into account the varying contexts and capabilities of provinces and municipalities; provide guidance on key priorities and sequencing of interventions in differing contexts; and factor in the considerable resourcing constraints and associated issues that face the sector.
Compliance and enforcement matters are dealt with in Chapter 7 of the Waste Act, which describes the compliance powers of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, waste impact reports, offenses and penalties.
Given the extensive responsibilities created by the Waste Act, it is recommended that a full assessment of the number and capacity of the EMIs required to enforce the Waste Act is undertaken, and a strategy developed to build this capacity in an incremental manner.
Section 6.(1)(b) of the Waste Act requires that the NWMS establish “mechanisms, systems and procedures for giving effect to the Republic's obligations in terms of relevant international agreements”. The most important international agreements that relate to the issue of waste management, and to which South Africa has acceded, are summarised in the table below.
Table: Summary of Main International Agreements
| Agreement | Description |
|---|---|
| Basel Convention, 1989 | Controls and limits the movement of hazardous wastes across national borders on the basis of informed consent and provides stringent tracking requirements. |
| Montreal Protocol, 1989 | Provides for the progressive phasing out of gaseous emissions found to deplete the ozone layer. The NEMA: Air Quality Act and the National Framework for Air Quality Management provide an additional regulatory framework with respect this protocol. |
| Rotterdam Convention, 1998 | Controls the cross border movement of hazardous chemicals by defining a procedure for informed consent which includes standards for labelling and documentation. The DEA is to be the designated national authority in terms of the convention. |
| Stockholm Convention, 2004 | Provides measures for limiting Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) - a category of harmful chemical compounds that accumulate in the food chain and damage the integrity of ecological systems. |
| Various Maritime Conventions | Although under the control of the Department of Transport rather than DEA, several Maritime conventions deal with disposal of waste at sea, with varying levels of international ratification. |
In terms of controlling the dumping of waste at sea, a key recommendation is the inclusion of the cost of port waste reception facilities in general harbour dues, thereby removing a disincentive for unloading waste in port.
There is a need for advocacy, education and awareness amongst all stakeholders including the public at large, the three spheres of government, and the private sector. Different role-players will fulfil different functions in respect to the respective target audience.
The effectiveness of many waste measures, particularly those aimed at waste reduction and recycling, depends to a significant extent on public and consumer awareness. Awareness of and responses to waste issues are very uneven across different South African communities, and a there is a clear need for high-profile state-led public awareness campaigns to support initiatives in relation to littering, as well as to promote a general awareness of waste issues. The content of such campaigns and their alignment with possible waste delivery measures such as separation at source needs careful consideration.
There is also a lack of awareness of the importance of waste management amongst elected representatives and government officials, particularly at local government level. This has negative consequences for planning, personnel and budget allocations. Amongst other measures, there is a need for training of councillors in waste management issues, and it is anticipated that SALGA will play an important role in implementing this.
The increased involvement of citizens in oversight of waste delivery services provides an important avenue for raising public awareness of waste management issues. Similarly, the “Cleanest town” competition has potentially an important role to play in advocacy and awareness. Consideration should be given to extending this programme and developing detailed criteria for awards, as has been done with the DWA’s “Blue Drop” campaign for water resource management by local water authorities.
Schools have a particularly important role to play in advocacy and awareness around waste issues. Existing recycling initiatives in schools need to be supported and extended, although the fund-raising potential of these initiatives needs be realistically framed. DEA needs to assist the Department of Basic Education in ensuring that waste management is integrated into school curricula and management. There are existing initiatives in this respect that have been implemented in the Western and Southern Cape that provide useful models.
Industry associations and business bodies will have an important role to play in raising the awareness of their members with respect to the provisions of the Act that impact on them, and in promoting the use of the voluntary instruments provided by the Act.
Money spent on effective awareness and education programmes is likely to lead to savings in terms of more effective collection and recycling of waste in the long run, and it is therefore important that such programmes are suitably funded and resourced.
The NWMS will outline the key messages that need to be developed as well as how best and by whom these will be taken forward. A comprehensive communication plan is envisaged in this regard.
It is important that the compliance and monitoring capacity that will be required by EMIs with respect to their regulatory functions assigned by the Waste Act be properly assessed. In addition, an assessment is needed of whether their current training equips them to fulfil the functions ascribed in the Waste Act. Capacity building initiatives for members South African Police Services (SAPS), who play a crucial role in enforcing environmental legislation, also need to be considered. To facilitate prosecution of environmental crimes, capacity building initiatives for the NPA also need to be developed.
In terms of the WMOs, guidance is required with respect to their training requirements and to what extent the existing training for EMIs addresses some of their skills requirements.
With respect to municipal support, both national and provincial government are obliged to support and strengthen the municipalities’ ability to perform its functions in relation to waste management. A comprehensive programme of support needs to be developed and rolled out at local government level over the next five years. The NWMS will need to provide guidance regarding the main elements of such a programme.
At a national level, the NWMS should also address DEA’s capacity requirements as it takes on the overall responsibility to ensure the incremental implementation of the provisions of the Act.
The existing intergovernmental systems for coordinating environmental management provide the basis for cooperative governance in relation to waste management. These structures consist of the following:
Committee for Environmental Co-ordination was established in terms of Section 7 of the NEMA. The object of the Committee is to promote the integration of environmental functions of the relevant organs of state, and in particular to promote the achievement of the purpose and objectives of environmental implementation plans and environmental management plans. This will be the appropriate forum to align the activities of DEA with other government departments, and integrate the IWMP into the department’s strategic plans.
MINTECH Working Group 4 deals with compliance and enforcement issues, and it is working on clarifying the respective roles and responsibilities between national, provincial and local levels. It will be important for the Working Group to also establish the respective roles of the EMIs and the envisaged WMOs.
EMIs also coordinate their activities closely with the South African Police Services (SAPS), who play a crucial role in enforcing environmental legislation. EMIs work closely with police officials in the investigation of environmental crimes. In terms of NEMA, all police officers also have the powers of an EMI.
Coordination with the National Prosecuting Authority is extremely important for the prosecution of environmental crimes. EMIs are not empowered to prosecute cases in court, and the results of their investigations are handed over to prosecutors of the NPA to prosecute. The Department of Environmental Affairs and the NPA are collaborating to ensure the successful prosecution of environmental crimes.
The DEA has already given consideration to the institutional arrangements for the co-ordination of the WMOs, and it has planned for a three tiered co-ordination body, in the form of:
It is evident that the mandates of these fora are very broad; especially the provincial and district waste fora, and further guidance will be required regarding the mandate of each forum. There may also be a need to consider the membership of the fora, as the provincial and district fora appear not to make provision for industries’ involvement. The latter are only included at a national level as non-standing members. The issues for further consideration therefore include the mandates of the fora and consideration of the need for standing-membership for industry. The levels at which industry should be presented should also be considered.
With respect to intergovernmental relations, it has been proposed that a co-ordinating committee be established between DEA and the DTI to address the application of the South African Technical Infrastructure; the declaration of priority wastes and EPR schemes; the implications of the Consumer Protection Act; recycling schemes and the implications for competition policy; and incentives for cleaner production, to mention a few. The NWMS will situate the role of waste management in the context of industrial policy and how it can support the economic growth development objectives of the country in an environmentally sensitive way.
In relation to priority wastes, it is recommended that the interdepartmental consultation is accomplished through the creation of an inter-departmental committee involving DEA, DTI, and National Treasury. The committee would evaluate proposals for the promotion of reduction, re-use, recycling or recovery of waste, as well as their economic impact, in order to guide their further implementation. This committee could also be utilised for the purposes of dealing with priority wastes and the EPR measures outlined above.