1.5 Principles

The Waste Act is intended to complement NEMA, and its interpretation and application in the NWMS should be guided by the principles for integrated environmental management described in NEMA. These include the requirement for development to be socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.

Sustainability includes the following principles:

• Avoiding or minimising the disturbance to eco-systems and loss of bio-diversity;
• Waste is to be avoided, reduced, re-used and recycled in the first place, and in the second place, as required, disposed of in a responsible manner;
• Responsible and equitable use of non-renewable natural resources;
• Protection of the integrity of renewable natural resources;
• Application of the pre-cautionary principle i.e. the limits of current knowledge are considered as a conservative influence on decision-making.

NEMA prescribes an integrated approach to environmental management that recognises the relationships between different elements of the environment and people in the environment.

NEMA stipulates that principles of environmental justice should be observed in relation to the distribution of adverse environmental impacts and equitable access to environmental resources, benefits and services.

Many of the principles underpinning NEMA speak very directly to the requirement for a NWMS. For instance, the principle of costs of remedying pollution and consequent impacts on human health being borne by the polluter is explicit in NEMA.

Furthermore, the concept of extended producer responsibility is implicit in the statement of principle in NEMA that:
“Responsibility for the environmental health and safety consequences of a policy, programme, project, product, process, service or activity exists throughout its life cycle”.