Current State of Waste Management in the Republic of South Africa >>>

The Fortifying Infrastructure for Responsible Extinguishment (FIRE) project aims to phase out the use of toxic fluorinated firefighting foams and replace them with safer alternatives at major airports in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

In summer 2024, the South African government published a strategy paper on the management of e-waste, which was developed in collaboration with Empa. This is the first time the country has issued standardized guidelines for the proper and safe handling of e-waste. The collaboration is part of a program funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, one of BIR’s key aims has been to seek out regular virus-related updates from around the world and to disseminate relevant information to the recycling industry. To this end, BIR asked for latest feedback during a virtual meeting of national association members on Friday May 15, of which the following is a summary.

The world today committed to a pollution-free planet at the close of the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, with resolutions and pledges promising to improve the lives of billions across the globe by cleaning up our air, land and water.

Norton, a small town with 60,000 inhabitants about 40 km west of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, has no adequate waste management infrastructure. No regular waste separation system has been implemented. Approximately 85% of the households have a regular residual waste collection. The waste is however brought to the dumpsite without any treatment. For many years there was a dumpsite which had neither sealing nor treatment systems for protecting soil, groundwater or the atmosphere, therefore it was harming the environment.

Industrial applications of sensor-based sorting often employ X-rays as the source of illumination. X-ray transmission systems widely used in the recycling, inspection and NDT fields produce X-ray radiographs which are then automatically analysed to enable identification and separation of materials.

South Africa has a rapidly evolving climate change policy environment, which is in keeping with the country’s view of itself as a developing country leader in the climate change arena. Part of the policy environment includes attention to financial mechanisms that can be marshaled in support of the response to climate change. Flowing from the notion of using financial mechanisms in this manner, the South African National Treasury has taken initial steps towards the implementation of carbon taxation over emissions trading. While Treasury’s progress towards carbon taxation is in keeping with its primary role in financial matters, a dichotomy exists between Treasury’s view on how revenue raised from carbon taxation should be applied and the view of the Department of Environmental Affairs (which is the custodian of the national climate change policy). This article explores these and related issues with the purpose of giving a flavour and the status quo of the debate around carbon taxation and emissions trading in South Africa.

This paper considers the rise of the BASIC bloc of emerging economies (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) and its influence in pursuing the adoption of an international agreement on climate change acceptable for all countries. It first questions the mere existence of BASIC as a negotiation group. Indeed, whereas the BASIC bloc is now a reality, BASIC countries do not formally want to be distinguished from the Global South. The study tries to explain this equivocal matter of fact by decoding the perimeter and dynamics of BASIC. It also analyses what would be a balanced outcome of climate change negotiations from BASIC’s point of view, through the three challenges any future agreement will have to take up, namely legitimacy, equity and effectiveness. It appears that BASIC may be considered in a transitive phase regarding the climate change issue. BASIC countries seem to want more power but to fear responsibilities. Therefore, they find it much more comfortable to experience their evolving status as parts of a group of other growing actors of international climate negotiations.

Compared to developed countries in Europe and North America, South Africa’s sustainable and renewable energy sector is under-developed. This is the opinion of SESSA acting-CEO, Theo Covary. While South Africa experiences some of the highest levels of solar radiation in the world at anything between 4.5 kWh/m2 and 6.5 kWh/m2 (parts of Europe receive only 2.5 KWh/m2), 90% of its electricity is from coal-fired power stations, ranking it in the top 15 global polluters.

Bioenergy is a renewable energy that can potentially contribute to a wider range of economic, social, and environmental objectives, and facilitate sustainable development. The assessment, management and monitoring of the various bioenergy development options are complex in nature and deliver varying benefits; depending on the appropriateness of the implementation, management structure as well as the degree of uptake and adoption.

The Governments of Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe have launched a US$90-million project to reduce the releases of hazardous chemicals from plastics

Decisions to speed up climate action and strengthen global solidarity

South Africa successfully organised the first-ever Football World Cup on African soil last summer. And soon it will be hosting another historic event: its first CDM Programme of Activities (PoA). After their tragic loss in the football final, the Dutch will be playing a different game this time.

The present work showed the methods used for waste treatment methods to be successful and have the benefit of sustainable water purification and soil and waste remediation.

Energy needs for room heating, warm water and steam production in South African prisons are normally acquired from electricity produced via fossil fuels.

The City of Cape Town, with a population of 3,25 million inhabitants, currently disposes approximately 2,5 million tonnes of general municipal wastes per annum at its three operating landfills. Various policies and acts legislated by national and provincial government in recent years has led to more stringent requirements being imposed on local municipalities regarding the disposal of solid wastes. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry developed a series of “Minimum Standards Requirements” in 1998 for the disposal of waste by landfill and it became mandatory that all landfill sites be formally permitted, with specific environmental, technical and operating requirements.

In 1998 the South African Government developed a National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS)(Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 1998) based on a proactive approach to waste management instead of the ever occurring reactive approach which was the norm. Focus in terms of waste legislation then was on managing the end pipe solution, that being landfilling. However, the NWMS introduced a paradigm shift towards integrated waste management and the implementation of a hierarchical approach, i.e. a sequential application of waste prevention/minimisation, recycling and re-use, treatment and ultimately disposal which is the least preferred option.

Solid waste management in developing countries is characterised by highly inefficient waste collection practices, inadequate levels of service, limited resources, lack of environmental control systems, indiscriminate dumping, littering and scavenging and a poor environmental and waste awareness of the general public (Onu, 2000). South Africa, as other emerging countries, is striving towards meeting international standards by applying advanced concepts such as the waste hierarchy and zero waste to their environmental policies.

A number of policy instruments exist for achieving waste and pollution control, including command-and-control instruments; economic or market-based instruments; voluntary agreements; and information-based strategies (Perman et al., 2003; Sterner, 2003). Commandand- control instruments involve direct regulation and rely primarily on the application of regulatory instruments, such as standards, authorisations (licences/permits) and land-use controls. Environmental regulation is a relatively young approach to waste and pollution control, with most environmental legislation having been passed in the past 20-30 years in developed countries, and even more recently in developing countries (Goodstein, 2002). South Africa is no exception, with the majority of its environmental legislation having been passed in the last ten years.

Where are we? Where are we going? The degradation of the earth continues. Man in his quest for survival and ever increasing affluence uses up more resources than what is available from the natural cycle on this planet and generates more waste than is necessary in the process of improvement. Resources are being wasted. Although often seen as an emotional statement the facts are there for all to see. Man is using far more than what the earth can offer or replenish.

The Polokwane Declaration sets targets of waste reduction to landfills of 50% by 2012 and targets of zero waste to landfills by 2022. Although the most economically developed country on the African continent, South Africa is faced with numerous priority issues (such as public safety, housing, education, health etc.) that require attention, so waste management is generally perceived to be of lower importance. Rapid population growth, use of high-tech materials, the tendency to congregate in large cities and the establishment of informal settlements (where waste management is limited or non-existent), have resulted in increasing pressure on waste management resources, such as landfills, collection and disposal services and the environment (Taiwo and Vorster, 2006; Wiechers et al, 2002).

Historically in South Africa informal settlements were not recognized as a part of society requiring consideration in provision of service delivery. There was no water provided, no toilets and certainly no acceptable waste removal or cleaning. Today all informal settlements, whether private land invasions or on public land, are recognized and residents are accepted as citizens of Cape Town and, as such, entitled to receive services which include refuse collection and cleaning.

Increasing amounts of waste are generated world-wide, which impacts negatively on the environment and could have detrimental effects on the health of the population. Industries such as the red meat abattoirs contribute to this waste burden. Recordings of animal slaughtering for human consumption date back to the 18th century.

The Buffelsdraai landfill site is located some 35 km from the City of Durban in the north western reaches of the eThekwini Municipal area. The selection of the site was primarily because of the location of good geological conditions below the site comprising generally a sound intact tillite rock formation (Payne, 2005). The site is located within a sensitive water catchment area containing thousands of inhabitants of the local communities who use both surface and groundwater. The catchment ultimately drains into the Umhloti River which directly outlets into the Indian Ocean. The site opened in mid-May 2006 and initially receives the waste-stream that was originally accepted by the now closed La Mercy landfill site.

The Vissershok Waste Management Facility is a privately owned hazardous waste landfill site, located to the north of Cape Town in South Africa. The joint owners are South African waste management companies, Enviroserv Waste Management and The Wasteman Group (partly owned by Suez Environment). Forty hectares of the site is permitted to receive H:H (high hazard rating) waste and has been in operation since 1974. It has an anticipated life to between 2020 and 2025. The facility presently receives about 300 000t of waste per annum of which some 23 percent is hazardous. The site provides disposal and treatment facilities for many types of hazardous waste. In addition there is an encapsulation process for wastes that cannot be treated or disposed of onto the landfill.

It is valuable to have other projects to learn from when initiating new composting projects. Some municipal initiatives in composting of solid waste in South Africa were studied, and based on these seven case studies, we aimed to evaluate how composting fulfils the goals of the municipalities. The goals were technological process function, environmental impact, economic sustainability and social policy fulfilment.