South Africa will soon have a Paper and Packaging Industry Plan, which will bring a significant change in the current waste management regime.

“Through this plan we hope that we can commence with separation at source from household levels,” Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said.

“This will not only minimise the amount of waste going to landfills but will also unlock the economic potential of this waste stream.”

Minister Molewa was speaking during the launch of the Ekurhuleni Clean City Programme at Tsakane Stadium at the weekend.

She said the implementation of an industry plan for the paper and packaging waste stream will put value to the waste stream and facilitate the establishment and operation of businesses within this sector.

“In doing so we hope we will in future not see all this waste in our streets as it will move from being ‘waste’ to being a ‘resource’,” Minister Molewa said.

The Paper and Packaging Industry Plan will follow the Waste Tyre Management Plan which has seen 31 percent of waste tyres being diverted from landfill for re-use, recycling and recovery purposes, while approximately 3 000 jobs and 200 Small Medium and Micro Enterprises and Cooperatives have been established through the implementation of the waste tyre management plan.

The Waste Information baseline study that the Department of Environmental Affairs conducted in 2011 revealed that approximately 108 million tons of waste was generated, of which 97 million tons were disposed to landfill.

Only 10 percent of the generated waste in South Africa was recycled in 2011.