The official journal of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa
Promoting integrated resources management
Landfills Designing to the Draft National Standard
Solid Waste
Waste Act implementation unpacked
Oilkol discusses a captive population
Marine Debris Summit
Collective action critical
ISSN IISS SS SSN 1 1680-4902 68 80-4 8080 0-49 0 902 90 02 0 2 R40 R R40.00 .0 .00 00 (inc (in (incl in ncl VA V VAT) AT) T • V Vol ol 1 15, 5, N 5, No o 3, 3 Au Aug A August ug gust ust 20 us 2013 2 013 13 3
Air Pollution A select few or a social cost?
Expert Opinion “Ensuring quality is managed from design through construction to reduce long-term environmental risk is imperative.” Jonathan Shamrock, Jones & Wagener
is printed on 100% recycled paper
Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa
contents
10
Solid Waste
Cover strap
www.3smedia.co.za ISSN 1680-4902, Volume 15, Number 3, August 2013 The ofſcial journal of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa
Promoting integrated resources management
The RéSource team stands firmly behind environmental preservation. As such, RéSource magazine is printed on 100% recycled paper and uses no dyes or varnishes. The magazine is saddlestitched to ensure that no glues are required in the binding process.
Landfills Designing to the Draft National Standard
Solid Waste
Waste Act implementation unpacked
Oilkol discusses a captive population
Marine Debris Summit
Collective action critical
ISSN IISS SSN 1 SS 1680-4902 68 80-4 8080 0-49 0 902 90 02 0 2 R40 R R40.00 .0 .00 00 (inc (in (incl in ncl VA V VAT) AT) T • V Vol ol 1 15, 5, N 5, No o 3, 3 Au Aug A August ug gust ust 20 us 2013 2 013 13 3
Air Pollution A select few or a social cost?
Cover Story
Expert Opinion “Ensuring quality is managed from design through construction to reduce long-term environmental risk is imperative.” Jonathan Shamrock, Jones & Wagener
Oilkol
is printed on 100% recycled paper
Canaries to crows
6
RéSource offers advertisers an ideal platform to ensure maximum exposure of their brand. Companies are afforded the opportunity of publishing a cover story and a cover picture to promote their products and services to an appropriate audience. Please call Christine Pretorius on +27 (0)11 465 6273 to secure your booking. The article does not represent the views of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa, or those of the publisher.
Regulars
Recycling
President’s comment
3
Carton recycling climbs to 11%
Editor’s comment
5
Trekking for Trash duo reach
55
IWMSA News
Hot seat 8
Landfills: Setting the standard
Solid waste 10
Business unusual
30
finish line
32
Cash for Cans provides a livelihood
34
Investigating agronomy
36
22 39
Landfills
Air Pollution
Air pollution Carbon tax: A social cost?
38
New air quality standards imminent
39
Johannesburg: New waste management vision announced
12
Cape Town: Kraaifontein delivers
16
Marine Debris Summit: Collective action critical
18
Youth programme launched
20
Technology vs environment
Gauteng's first Class B liner landfill
22
CDM: Keeping it clean
25
Waste to energy
Hazardous waste Is e-waste valuable or hazardous?
42
28
infrastructure4
42
Hazardous Waste
A realistic perspective of energy optimisation considerations: Part IIl
44
Plant & equipment Gas detection simplified
51
Pilot Crushtec's dynamic expansion
53
in association with infrastructure news
41
Wastewater
Landfills
Unlocking conversion potential
Medical waste
}
www.infrastructurene.ws
RéSource August 2013 – 1
KINGJAMES 24116
When you dump used motor oil into drains, or dispose of it unsafely, you’re not only threatening the environment, you’re threatening your well-being too. Used oil is a hazardous waste that can contaminate drinking water. Always use ROSE approved collectors and recyclers to dispose of your used oil. For more information call the ROSE Foundation on 021 448 7492. Email: usedoil@iafrica.com or visit: www.rosefoundation.org.za
RECYCLING OIL SAVES THE ENVIRONMENT
Funded by:
President’s comment
Times of change It is often said that the only certainty in life is change. This is certainly the case in waste management in South Africa with a plethora of new regulations, standards and requirements being developed and introduced as part of the implementation of the Waste Act.
T
he month of June was also a time of change in the IWMSA with the resignation of Deidré Nxumalo-Freeman as president and the closure of the Health Care Waste Forum. The change in presidency a year earlier than expected has resulted in a longer term of office for me as president and the new vice president elected. You have my commitment that I will serve the IWMSA to the best of my ability during this extended term. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Deidré for her hard work during the time of her presidency and for establishing a relationship with the Department of Environmental Affairs on which the IWMSA can build going forward. I strongly believe that a strong relationship between government and the waste industry is imperative for addressing the challenges faced by the waste industr y and improving waste management. Congratulations also to Jan Palm on being elected vice president of the IWMSA. I am looking forward to working with you, serving our members and making a positive contribution to the waste industry in general. To the members of the now closed Health Care Waste Forum, I want to assure you that you remain valued members of the IWMSA. We will include topics relating to health care risk waste in our events, including at WasteCon 2014, as and when there is need. The African Medical Waste Association (AMWA) is acknowledged by the IWMSA as an organisation focusing on medical waste
management and, as such, their application for organisation membership has been approved. The IWMSA will support the activities of AMWA in a similar way as we support events and activities of our other organisation members. The training courses offered by the IWMSA are now really gaining momentum under the leadership of Gail Smit and the training committee. We get regular requests for accredited and non-accredited courses from numerous municipalities and now even from our neighbouring countries. It is encouraging to see that we as the IWMSA are expanding our impact through training into SADC. We would like to grow and expand our training offerings and therefore need more accredited facilitators and assessors. If you are interested, please contact the IWMSA head office. There are a few interesting upcoming events that I would encourage you to support. These are Landfill 2013 from 16 to 17 October in Muldersdrift, organised by the Landfill Interest group; the Eastern Cape Conference on 10 September in Port Elizabeth, organised by the Eastern Cape branch. I trust that IWMSA will go from strength to strength and that together we will make a positive impact on waste management in South Africa.
It is encouraging to see that we as the IWMSA are expanding our impact through training into SADC.”
Best regards, Suzan Oelofse, IWMSA president
Patron members of the IWMSA
RéSource August 2013 – 3
Editor’s comment Publisher: Elizabeth Shorten Editor-in-chief: Nicholas McDiarmid Editor: Chantelle van Schalkwyk Tel: +27 (0)11 233 2600 Head of design: Frédérick Danton Senior designer: Hayley Mendelow Designer: Kirsty Galloway Chief sub-editor: Claire Nozaïc Sub-editor: Patience Gumbo Production manager: Antois-Leigh Botma Production coordinator: Jacqueline Modise Financial manager: Andrew Lobban Marketing & events coordinator: Neo Sithole Distribution manager: Nomsa Masina Distribution coordinator: Asha Pursotham Administrator: Tonya Hebenton Printers: United Litho Johannesburg Tel: +27 (0)11 402 0571 Advertising sales: Christine Pretorius Tel: +27 (0)11 465 8255 christine.pretorius@lantic.net
Publisher: MEDIA No.4, 5th Avenue Rivonia, 2191 PO Box 92026, Norwood 2117 Tel: +27 (0)11 233 2600 Share Call: 086 003 3300 Fax: +27 (0)11 234 7274/5 www.3smedia.co.za Annual subscription: subs@3smedia.co.za R195.00 (incl VAT) South Africa ISSN 1680-4902 The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa Tel: +27 (0)11 675 3462 E-mail: iwmsa@telkomsa.net All material herein RéSource is copyright-protected and may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without the prior written permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or editor, but those of the author or other contributors under whose name contributions may appear, unless a contributor expresses a viewpoint or opinion in his or her capacity as an elected office bearer of a company, group or association. © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
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Let’s dance
T
here is one thing – besides death and taxes – that is a certainty in life and that is: change is inevitable. With this edition of RéSource, the waves of change seem to have been constant, with a number of major announcements, projects and priorities having come to the fore between the last edition and this one. On a positive note, change with regards to the design and construction of landfills is finally being rolled out – as is evidenced in the hot seat where we focus on Jones & Wagener’s role in the design and construction of the first commercial hazardous waste cell adhering to the new Class A standards contained in the Draft National Standard for Disposal of Waste to Landfill (page 8). Although this is in line with Draft National Standards that still need to be promulgated, these standards have already been accepted to some extent by the industry at large and are therefore being rolled out in a number of projects. This edition also showcases the first Class B liner landfill in South Africa according to the Draft National Standards: Inter waste’s FG Landfill Site in Olifantsfontein (page 22).
A further highlight is the new waste management vision for the City of Johannesburg that the Mayor of Johannesburg, Councillor Parks Tau, rolled out at the recent Johannesburg Waste Summit 2013, which is featured on page 12. In the IWMSA, change has also been evident with Suzan Oelofse being announced as the new president and Jan Palm as vice president. As the RéSource team, we welcome both to their new roles and look forward to collaborating with them in the future. Already, Suzan has unpacked the changes to be wrought in local business practice with regards to waste management as a result of the Waste Act (2008) for our readers on page 10 in “Business unusual”. British-born philosopher and writer, Alan Watts, once said: “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.” So I say, as change continues to be a certainty between this edition and the next, let’s dance!
The waves of change seem to have been constant, with a number of major announcements, projects and priorities having come to the fore
Chantelle van Schalkwyk
RéSource August 2013 – 5
Cover story
Canaries Canaries to Crows to Crows
Kaliningrad based research ship Academic Joffe in Antarctica.
Are we missing something?
W
here I live we used to have many Indian Mynah birds. These birds seemed to be territorial and they protected their areas. They also seemed to breed at an incredible rate and there were always lots of them. From what I have been told they were highly intelligent birds, as I am led to believe that they could be taught to imitate human speech. They are noisy birds and some humans considered them quite a nuisance – a problem species one could say – and many people were not happy to have them around and were trying to find ways of getting rid of the problem. I seem to remember conversations where it was said that one should not allow them to nest on your property, if you were so fortunate as to have a property. One of the reasons for this attitude was that, being territorial, the Mynahs would displace other birds from where they live. Even our cats were “dived bombed” by the Mynahs. I remember from my days at school the histor y of the mines and the fact that another bird, the Canar y, was kept underground in cages. This was done to warn the miners of undetectable deadly gas. Unfor tunately for you if you happened to be a Canar y, as the bird star ted going wild when it detected the gas and warned the miners. I say unfor tunate because if the miners did not pay attention the Canar y died, along with the miners of course. But the difference is that the Canar y was in captivity. The Canaries were used to indicate danger. A friend of mine had a pet Crow and, for me, it was a strange bird as the Crow does not occur naturally where I live. My friend's was the only place I ever saw a Crow. Well
6 – RéSource August 2013
lately I have noticed flocks of Crows in our area and this is rather strange. It is strange, as the Crow is a scavenger and I live in Johannesburg and have done so for the past 50 years. What, may one wonder, is the relevance of all this about the birds? Well, where we used to have many, we do not have any Mynah birds left anymore. Nobody killed them that I am aware of. They just packed up and moved on. One has to wonder why this happened. Is it that they detected changes in the climate that did not appeal to them? Or is it something else? Could it be that our air has just become too polluted for them to live and thrive in.
Whatever the reason, they were luckier than the Canaries. As for the Crows, could their presence have something to do with the increase of rats in the area that I live? Could it be that we have dead rats and other garbage around our area that attracts the Crows?
Whatever the case may be it does seem that, like the Canaries of old, the birds might be tr ying to tell us something and because they are not captive like the Canaries they just make a statement with their presence – or lack thereof. I suspect that what they are tr ying to tell us, is that our environment is changing and that we have to pay attention, or pay the consequences. The answer might lie in the way that we are abusing our resources and creating a huge rubbish dump on our planet. Simply moving the waste to dumps and other landfill sites can no longer be good enough. We have become resource consumers and creators of waste. If the Mynahs were captive like the Canaries, they might have died in their cages and we might have taken notice. What is also true is that we as humans are captive on our planet and when the environment becomes toxic, we are in a Canar y position. At Oilkol we have decided to adopt a policy of zero tolerance towards waste and the pollution that goes hand in hand with it. We all have a responsibility to manage the waste that we create to a state of zero pollution.
Cover story
Let's heed the indicators! Like birds of a feather, let's flock together. Join the Institute of Waste Management and manage the waste in South Africa effectively.
R
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O IL K O L
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Oilkol has therefore implemented measures to insure that we do not pollute the air, the water or land from which we operate. Oilkol specialises in Hydrocarbon and Automotive related waste. Our strategy is one of life cycle management, where we are tr ying to ensure that the maximum usage is attained from any product that we collect and that nothing goes to waste or causes pollution. The principle is simple – what you don't measure, you cannot manage. As an example: When you have effluent water on your premises, clean it to drinking water specification before releasing it into the environment. If ever y company adopts this policy then it will relieve a lot of pressure on the environment. The pressure however will never fully disappear as we, as a species, are constantly increasing in numbers and this farm we call Ear th is already past its maximum carr ying capacity. It therefore goes without saying that we need to rethink the way in which we deal with the resources of our planet.
The Oilkol Environmental Seal of Approval® is also an Indicator. Frogs do not live in polluted environments. Therefore, where you see the seal displayed, it indicates an enterprise that is serious about the environment. When we, as a species, star ted exploiting the planet in the name of progress, we were so focussed on sur vival and growth that we did not pay attention to the damage we were causing. I guess, when in sur vival mode, one tends to do that and it might be understandable and even forgiven. The sad par t is that because of the amount of people living on the planet now and the fact that economic growth is hovering on collapse we, as a species, are continuing the uncaring exploitation of the planet.
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RéSource August 2013 – 7
Hot seat
LANDFILLS
Setting the standard
The construction of Cell 9 at the Holfontein H:H Disposal Site is the first commercial hazardous waste cell to be designed and constructed to the new Class A standards contained in the Draft National Standard for Disposal of Waste to Landfill, Jones & Wagener’s Jonathan Shamrock tells Chantelle van Schalkwyk.
S
outh Africa has seen the publication of numerous pieces of legislation and new regulations pertaining to the environmental engineering and management fields over the past few years. These new regulations are generally more stringent than the legislation they replace,” says Shamrock. He adds that an example is the new landfill barrier design standards. The barrier design standards included in the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry’s Minimum Requirements for Waste Disposal by Landfill (Second Edition, 1998) will be replaced by those in the Draft National Standard for Disposal of Waste to Landfill issued for comment under the National Environmental
Management: Waste Act (59/2008) (General Notice 615 of 2012, Government Gazette No 35572 dated 10 August 2012), once finalised and promulgated. “For municipal landfill sites, there will be a significant increase in containment standards with the inclusion of a composite liner consisting of a geomembrane in contact with a low permeability compacted clay liner or geocomposite clay liner. This is especially true for sites that had previously been classified as being in water deficit areas. Hazardous waste landfills now require an additional secondary composite liner similar to the minimum requirements lagoon standards.” Shamrock adds that the inclusion of composite liners in barriers undoubtedly increases the environmental containment standards of these facilities; however, it also introduces potential inter” face failure planes, Jonathan Shamrock, Jones especially when & Wagener applied to slopes,
I am very excited to be bringing one of the major contributors to geosynthetics research in the world to South Africa.
8 – RéSource August 2013
and it increases the complexity, time and cost of construction. “Proper planning during the design phase, including site-specific interface friction testing on the actual geosynthetics to be used with the actual site soil, is vital. There is currently very limited capacity to undertake this test work locally, resulting in the majority of the test work being conducted overseas, adding additional time and cost.” According to Shamrock, multiple composite barrier installation also highlights the importance of full-time quality assurance and quality control during construction. In fact, the need for construction quality assurance will be written into, and be a requirement of, the standard. “The contractor interfaces between the earthworks contractor and the specialist geomembrane installer determine the eventual success of a project, and ensuring quality is managed from design through construction to reduce long-term environmental risk is imperative,” says Shamrock.
Class A achievement Shamrock says the team at Jones & Wagener is currently nearing completion of the construction of the latest landfill cell, Cell 9, at
Hot seat
the Holfontein H:H Disposal Site (Holfontein) in Gauteng owned by EnviroServ Waste Management. The cell is the first commercial hazardous waste cell to be designed and constructed to the new Class A standards contained in the Draft National Standard for Disposal of Waste to Landfill and is five hectares in area. The cell is being constructed by Fountain Civil Engineering and the geomembrane liners are being installed by Engineered Linings. “As much as the addition of a composite liner in the secondary system offers improved environmental protection, it yields some complications in the design and construction of such liners,” warns Shamrock, adding that issues that had to be overcome included ensuring stability of the barrier package using textured geomembrane liners; providing an effective seal to the gravity drainage systems, which had to penetrate the barriers; and ensuring a practical arrangement of anchoring trenches for the multiple geosynthetic elements used in the design. However, these challenges were taken in stride by the team at Jones & Wagener, which was uniquely suited to the project because of its over-25 years of experience with barrier design in its Waste and Tailings Division, says Shamrock. “We also have a strong geotechnical basis for materials selection, application and analysis in our Geotechnical Division. Due to the nature and scope of the changes in environmental legislation, we have recognised the importance of having dedicated specialist teams in our Environmental Sciences and Environmental Engineering divisions that are tasked with keeping abreast of the changes and then passing this information on to our clients and to our designers to ensure they are incorporated into our designs.” Additionally, the team has also seen the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to design, says Shamrock, and therefore ensures that constant feedback of monitored performance from its Environmental Sciences Division, which undertakes water quality monitoring, is incorporated into future designs.
Prioritising rehabilitation “Jones & Wagener is focusing on undertaking more rehabilitation work, especially projects using geosynthetics in rehabilitation,” continues Shamrock. He adds that based on a regulator and industry workshop conducted at the end of
2011, revised standards for the capping of waste facilities are also expected. “The new standards will undoubtedly contain geosynthetic elements. Again, the containment barrier philosophy will have to be applied with particular emphasis on interface friction design and the drainage of pressures below and on top of the geosynthetic elements in the cap to mitigate the risk of veneer failures.” Shamrock says the team at Jones & Wagener is also excited about the opportunity to work on general and hazardous waste disposal facilities in other African countries and apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in South Africa to these projects, which often have unique countryspecific challenges.
Staying focused “Keeping abreast of the latest developments, especially in the field of geosynthetics, is obviously one of our key focus areas,” he says. Jones & Wagener has a significant involvement in the Geosynthetics Interest Group of South Africa (GIGSA), including the immediate past president and the current president, who are employees of Jones & Wagener. “This ensures we are at the forefront of international best practice standards.” According to Shamrock, the next big challenge is applying what the team has learned in barrier design and construction on landfills to waste streams that now need suitable environmental containment as a result of their contaminating potential and in keeping with new legislation, such as ash disposal facilities and mine residue deposits. “Jones & Wagener has a sound knowledge of these waste streams as well as the operational methods used in their deposition through our involvement in these fields in the past, the new facet being the interaction of these facilities with geosynthetic materials, especially composite barriers.” Shamrock adds that in order to highlight the current state of the art and explore these potential challenges, the Landfill 2013 conference is being organised for later this year. The conference theme is ‘Effective
environmental protection from the residues of modern civilisation’ and it is being cohosted by the Landfill Interest Group of the IWMSA’s Central Branch and GIGSA on 16 and 17 October 2013 at the Misty Hills Conference Centre in Muldersdrift, Johannesburg. The conference will be followed by a one-day short course on geosynthetic barriers presented on 18 October by Dr George Koerner of the Geosynthetic Institute in Folsom, Pennsylvania, in the US. Dr Koerner will also present the keynote address on the first day of the conference, titled ‘Geosynthetics in Containment: Past, Present and Future’. “As vice chairman of the IWMSA Central Branch and chairman of the Landfill 2013 organising committee, I am very excited to be bringing one of the major contributors to geosynthetics research in the world to South Africa. I would like to encourage all IWMSA and GIGSA members to attend this event,” concludes Shamrock.
TOP TO BOTTOM RIGHT Construction of Cell 9 at the Holfontein H:H landfill site
RéSource August 2013 – 9
Solid waste
WASTE ACT IMPLEMENTATION
Business unusual By Suzan Oelofse
The preamble to the Waste Act (2008) is very clear that, as a result of this legislation, waste management in South Africa will never be the same again. This should send a clear message that ‘business as usual’ will no longer be sufficient.
T
he implementation of the Waste Act requires everyone involved in the value chain of goods – from manufacturing through to disposal of waste – to plan, think and act differently; thus, business unusual. A paradigm shift from end-of-pipe waste management towards waste avoidance, reuse and recycling in South Africa was first put forward in the White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management (IP&WM) (2000), and the first National Waste Management Strategy (1999). The Waste Act finally provides the legal basis to ensure its implementation. This alignment of South African waste management with international trends will therefore require a close look at the entire value chain of goods and services. The Waste Act imposes a general duty on every person or business to manage waste in a responsible way so as to reduce the amount of waste that is generated and to ensure that waste is managed in an environmentally sound manner by following the waste hierarchy. This should not be news to anyone operating a business in the global market. Many large businesses, especially organisations with ISO 14000 certification or with
international parent companies, already implement the basics of the waste hierarchy, but this is just the start of implementing the Act. So, what does ‘business unusual’ mean in the context of the new legislation? The Act provides for standards to be set at all stages in the waste management chain. The National Domestic Waste Collection Standards already prescribe quality standards for services and equipment. For example, receptacles for storage of waste must be rigid and durable to prevent spillage and leaking; it must be intact and not corroded or worn out; and it must be covered to prevent wind-blown litter. Collection vehicles must be appropriate for the task and terrain, and must be covered to prevent
the Act will thus have cost implications while ensuring that the standards are met at all times. Businesses and industry that outsource waste management to waste service providers have an obligation in terms of the general duty imposed by the Act to ensure that the appointed contractor will be able to provide the contracted service within the ambit of the relevant standards. Previously, only waste disposal and treatment facilities required waste licences. This situation has significantly changed with the implementation of the Waste Act (Chapter 5). All waste management activities that have or are likely to have a detrimental effect on the environment now require waste management licences. A list of these activities have been published and include storage of waste, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste, treatment and disposal of waste as well as the construction, expansion or decommissioning of facilities and associated infrastructure relating to waste management. Businesses that engage in waste management activities that previously operated without waste management licences may now require such a licence or licences to operate legally.
The Act provides for standards to be set at all stages in the waste management chain
10 – RéSource August 2013
littering during transportation. Therefore compliance to these standards will require regular checks and replacement of noncompliant receptacles and phasing out of non-compatible vehicles. Strict enforcement of these and other standards set under
Solid waste
Extended producer responsibility is an important waste management measure that is introduced by the Act (Chapter 4, Part 3) to minimise waste and increase recycling while protecting our natural resources. This provision places responsibility for the management of consumer goods at the end of their useful life, at the door of the producer. The aim is to encourage producers to rethink the input material used in manufacturing with the aim of reducing the consumption of natural resources while increasing the recyclability of the product. To achieve this goal, manufacturing has two options: substituting the use of natural resources with recycled materials when manufacturing consumer goods, or redesigning goods to use fewer natural resources. The implementation of Section 59 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008, provides a form of extended producer responsibility. It requires that suppliers of ‘particular goods’ have to accept the return of such goods and certain wastes that cannot be disposed of into common waste collection systems. The supplier is required to accept goods or waste irrespective of whether that particular supplier sold the goods to the consumer in the first place. The suppliers then have the option to return the waste to the importers, producers or distributors of the goods or incurring the costs of disposing the waste themselves. This may result in suppliers of consumer goods having to store waste and engage in other listed waste management activities that may require a waste management licence. In addition, a supplier will not be allowed to charge consumers for this service, resulting in a cost
burden to the supplier to deal with the waste thus collected. Industr y waste management plans (IndWMPs) is another new addition to waste regulation in South Africa. The Waste Act (Chapter 4, Part 7) provides for voluntary and compulsory IndWMPs to be developed. Approval of an IndWMP has potentially far reaching consequences for the industry and consumers. Such plans will dictate how the waste streams from a specific industry or sector will be managed, including targets for waste minimisation and methods for monitoring and reporting. The minister or MEC may specify the extent of any financial contribution to be made to support consumer-based waste reduction programmes. Both industry players and consumers will be involved in the implementation of these plans. Industry will have to provide the means and systems for the collection and management of the waste stream and consumers will be required to take certain waste streams to specified collection points. It is likely that the collection points will be located at suppliers and producers. The successful implementation of an IndWMP will rely heavily on consumer awareness and participation. It is likely that the costs for implementing these plans will be recovered through levies charged on new products.
ACTIONS REQUIRED Manufacturers need to: • think of product design to support post-life recycling and minimise waste generation during manufacturing • understand their waste streams for reporting and management purposes • be aware of new developments including: • approvals of IndWMPs • declarations of priority waste streams • extended producer responsibility measures relating to specified products. Suppliers need to: • prepare for acceptance of end-of-life consumer goods that cannot be disposed of into a common waste collection system • manage the waste consumer goods in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way in line with the relevant approved IndWMPs • apply for waste management licences if applicable. Waste management companies need to: • keep up with changing regulations and standards to ensure compliance • apply for relevant waste management licences • include the waste hierarchy in their service offerings • align their waste management offerings with the objectives of the National Waste Management Strategy • report data and information into the waste information system.
The administration around implementation of IndWMPs is bound to be cumbersome and costly. The minister also has the power to declare priority waste streams under the Act (Chapter 4, Part 1) for which management measures and handling requirements may be set. It is likely that such a declaration will impose requirements for additional capacity, infrastructure and costs, and for the safe management of priority waste streams. The Act (Chapter 6) also introduced a data reporting requirement, supported by the South African Waste Information System (SAWIS). It is envisaged that waste generators, transporters, recyclers, treatment facilities, disposal facilities and exporters will eventually submit data into the SAWIS, but reporting will be phased in over time. The Waste Information Regulations took effect on 1 January 2013 and everyone conducting activities listed in the regulations had to register on the SAWIS within 30 days. If you are not yet collecting data on the waste streams and quantities generated or handled by your business, it is certainly an opportune time to put systems in place to manage in-house waste data in a way that will streamline reporting into SAWIS. Suppliers of consumer goods that cannot be disposed of into common waste collection systems are encouraged to put systems in place to record data on the quantities of waste handled by them as a result of the Consumer Protection Act. Business unusual as it relates to waste management in line with the implementation of the Waste Act boils down to viewing and treating waste management as an important and integral part of any business and not just as an afterthought or something that waste management companies should deal with.
RéSource August 2013 – 11
Solid waste
JOHANNESBURG
New waste management vision announced A 20% reduction in waste to landfill by 2014 and 70% separation at source at household level in three years are two of the innovative targets announced by the executive mayor of Johannesburg, councillor Mpho Parks Tau, as part of a new waste management strategy for the city.
T
he strategy was launched at the Johannesburg Waste Summit 2013 at the Sandton Convention Centre. The aim of the summit was for delegates to explore all opportunities that flow from the implementation plan, with the hopes of soliciting wider support from and for the waste management sector. Some of the solutions to help South Africa deal with its social and environmental challenges may be a lot closer to us than we have appreciated, the summit heard. Johannesburg, like the rest of South Africa, faces the challenges of unemployment, poverty, inequality and an increasingly limited space to dispose of its waste. These challenges could, however, be successfully met by better managing the city’s waste.
Delivering the keynote address, Tau challenged the delegates representing various organisations in the recycling and renewable sector to find an appropriate word for what is presently called waste. He said this was necessary because of the increas-
This, however, would come with cost implications for Johannesburg citizens because the waste would have to be loaded on vehicles to be disposed of elsewhere.
Changing our waste consciousness “We need to think differently about waste,” said the president of IWMSA, Suzan Oelofse, speaking in her capacity as group leader: Waste for Development CSIR, Natural Resources and Environment Operating Unit Research. According to Oelofse, this change in the way we think about waste is needed if we are to meet certain key National Waste Management targets for 2016, such as the target of reducing recyclables diverted from landfill by 25%, as well as implementing waste (separation at source) in all the metropolitan municipalities and secondary cities, as well as the creation of 69 000 new jobs in the waste sector. She said there was a huge potential to recycle, but people needed to become aware, and although this awareness was critically needed, it also does not translate into action – or rather the practice of recycling. Currently, 73.1% of South African city dwellers do not care about recycling, with only 3.3% of the urban population recycling on a regular basis, according to a CSIR study titled Recycling Behaviour in South Africa, done in 2010. There are certain key drivers of social change that need to be in place in order for this awareness to be translated into action, namely motivation, ability and opportunity. “All three conditions must be met for people to change behaviour,” said Oelofse. She also shared lessons learnt from current or past awareness campaigns, like the fact that clean-up campaigns do not succeed in changing behaviour, or that incentives
Tau challenged the delegates to find an appropriate word for what is presently called waste
Councillor Mpho Parks Tau, executive mayor of Johannesburg
12 – RéSource August 2013
ing value that ‘waste’ was contributing to the economy. Delegates included representatives from community organisations, glass, plastic, paper, packaging and polystyrene industries. They compared best waste management practices from other parts of the world, including how the poorest citizens in some developing countries were using waste management to improve the standard of their lives while contributing to keep their cities clean. Drawing from experiences in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) representative, Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, shocked delegates by pointing out that 9.4 million tonnes of food – or a third of food produced in the world – ended up on landfill sites uneaten. The amount of food wasted and where it ended up struck a chord with the Johannesburg mayor. According to Tau, about a fourth of Johannesburg’s 4.4 million population went to bed hungry at least three times a year while food ended up on landfill sites. Responding to the startling numbers, Tau said Johannesburg was fast running out of landfill sites and might have to export its waste to neighbouring cities or provinces.
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Let’s recycle our way to a better future.
We, at Pikitup Johannesburg SOC Limited, aspire to be the leading integrated waste management company in Africa. That is why we’ve made it our mission to provide sustainable and innovative waste management solutions that exceed stakeholders’ expectations time and time again. Our service offering includes: Round Collected refuse, Business Waste, Special Waste, Landfill Sites, Garden Sites and Green Waste Recycling. More ways we’re working towards a better, greener South Africa.