The enforcement of the management of waste disposal is still a problem in South Africa, according to Deputy Water Affairs Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi on Monday.

“A lot of progress has been made in terms of waste management since last year, but the problem is exacerbated, in part, by the lack of enforcement capacity,” she said.

While the implementation of the national waste management strategy (NWMS) was a milestone in the country’s waste management approach, it remains problematic and difficult.

“It is the first single document outlining how government, industry, businesses and households, as a collective, will deal with waste in order to increase the efficiency and delivery of waste services,” she said. “As society progresses, we face the challenges of new and complex waste streams which must be managed in a sustainable manner.” This is due to the increase in consumerism as society becomes wealthier and the systems implemented decades ago have become archaeic.

Tyres remain a problem but the recent gazetting of the waste tyre strategy will go a long way to deal with this. Roughly 11 million vehicle tyres are sold in South Africa annually, turning into 275 000 tons of waste. “This plan seeks to deal with waste tyre problems while incorporating job creation, both of which are government’s top priorities,” Mabudafhasi said.

“A global transition to a low carbon and sustainable economy can create large numbers of green jobs across various sectors.We are working closely with National Treasury to ensure that funds for waste management are allocated and that they are sufficient. However, local government has to put systems in place for efficient budgeting and be able to achieve more with less.”

There is a need for government departments to work together to ensure an effective recycling economy that is buoyed by the thriving markets for recyclable waste, Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi said on Monday.

“It is important to continue to engage the private sector and create partnerships to deal with recycling.”She said according to the packaging sector, South Africans consumed over 3 629 million tons of packaging (metal, paper, glass and plastic) in 2008. Included in that is paper which is found in the waste stream. Examples of this include newspapers, magazines and mail. In that year, about 1 595 million tons of pre- and post-consumer waste was collected for recycling, a rate of 43.9%.

There was a need to have better systems of collection, which incorporate separation of waste at source, in order to get clean material and better quality jobs than the current practice of waste picking at landfill sites.

The department had set aside some funds to assist municipalities to license their own collection sites, working with provincial counterparts. This project targets a few municipalities in each province but does not stop municipalities who have capacity and the means to apply for licences. Where applicable, some of the sites may be licensed for closure and rehabilitation.Mabudafhasi highlighted enforcement as a big challenge in the country, despite good legislation in place.

Source: news24