1.2 Approach and methodology

1.2(1)
The development of the NWMS has been approached according to the provisions of Section 72 and Section 73 of the Waste Act, which require a consultative process, including public participation and consultation with relevant national and provincial departments.  

1.2(2)
The development of the strategy has followed a four phase consultative process presented in the table below, with stakeholder consultations incorporated into each phase of the development of the NWMS:

1.2(3)
An innovative feature of the consultation process has been the establishment of a website (www.deat.gov.za/nwms/) to facilitate public participation and comments on the key policy documents produced as part of the process of drafting the NWMS.

1.2(4)
The considerable body of environmental legislation and policy developed since 1994 has informed the preparation of the NWMS, including the 1999 NWMS and the 2000 White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management The NWMS draws on the policy foundation and experience with implementing the 1999 NWMS, published by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) in 1999.  This 1999 NWMS set out an integrated approach to waste management, cradle-to-grave management of waste products, and the waste hierarchy approach. As part of the process of compiling the NWMS, the success in implementing the 1999 NWMS was reviewed. Notable achievements include establishing a waste information system, waste minimization and recycling, and healthcare risk waste management. There has been uneven and delayed implementation of the 1999 NWMS, and some aspects of it have not been implemented at all, largely due to institutional and regulatory constraints. Voluntary reporting has limited the effectiveness of the Waste Information System.

1.2(5)
However, as a statutory instrument in terms of the Waste Act, the new NWMS differs substantively from the 1999 NWMS, which lacked legal status and thus enforceability.

1.2(6)
The NWMS deals with general, commercial and industrial waste streams, including hazardous waste, healthcare risk waste and waste streams from agriculture (obsolete pesticide stockpiles), power generation and mining (excluding residue deposits and stockpiles). The NWMS excludes consideration of nuclear waste, which is the subject of separate policy processes under the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and the disposal of animal carcasses which is regulated under the Animal Health Act, 2002. While pollution from waste products clearly is an important issue, the strategy does not deal with pollution per se, but only deals with the related fields of environmental impact management in relation to waste and remediation of contaminated lands. The NWMS also excludes consideration of air quality management, waste water and industrial effluent management, which are the subject of detailed policy and regulatory processes in their own right. The NWMS only deals with water quality issues to the extent that they are relevant to the regulatory framework for waste management. Lastly, it excludes residue deposits and stockpiles as these are regulated by the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Development Act, 2002.

1.2(7)
In the development of the NWMS, DEA has endeavoured to ensure that the strategy is aligned with the existing institutional arrangements, and intergovernmental relations and fiscal systems of government. The NWMS seeks to mainstream waste management priorities and measures within government planning and reporting systems, and ensure that it is accorded the appropriate level of priority. At the same time, DEA is cognisant of the real capacity constraints faced by many government agencies, particularly municipalities.

1.2(8)
The NWMS strives to promote the flexible deployment of appropriate instruments to address specific waste management challenges, in which command and control regulatory approaches are complemented by economic incentives, voluntary initiatives and self regulation for well performing industries. At same time, more interventionist measures will be invoked where lack of co-operation exists and an integrated approach to persistent waste problems require it.

1.2(9)
The Waste Act indicates that the strategy must be reviewed by the Minister at intervals of not more than five years. While the time period to be covered by the strategy is not specified, the bulk of the strategy’s provisions will relate to the five year period prior to the next review of the strategy.