PA N E L D I S C U S S I O N
The current state of SA’s WASTE SECTOR
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hese challenges manifest as the ineffective utilisation of municipal resources (financial, equipment, capacity), non-compliance with environmental legislation, no or poor levels of ser vice deliver y, and potential environmental and human health impacts. The legal requirements for municipalities to provide refuse removal ser vices have evolved and become more demanding over the years. Municipalities often refer to ‘unfunded mandates’ that have been added with the implementation of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act (No. 59 of 2008). The overlap of functions between districts and local municipalities has also been mentioned as a challenge that results in a lack of accountability, hampering solid waste management in small municipalities1. The South African waste sector has experienced a surge in waste regulation since the Act came into effect on 1 July 2009. The sector has moved from a situation of limited waste regulation to the current state, which advocates for moving waste up the waste management hierarchy, away from disposal, towards more sustainable alternative waste management options, with regulator y control instituted on most waste management activities. According to many, this increase in
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ReSource
Repor ts dating back to 2007 and 2008 show that municipalities in South Africa are faced with four broad challenges, namely: financial management, equipment management, labour management, and institutional behaviour. By Dr Suzan Oelofse*
regulator y control has introduced a compliance burden, which has increased both operational and capital costs for the waste sector. The cost of landfilling municipal solid waste is a case in point, which saw an increase associated with the introduction of new landfill barrier requirements. Exper ts in the design of landfills have indicated that the cost of compliance with the new requirements is close to double when compared to the Minimum Requirements of 1998. The increase in the cost of landfilling in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. An increase in the cost of landfilling is impor tant to make alternative treatment options more attractive and to encourage municipalities and industr y to explore alternative waste management options towards ‘saving’ landfill airspace for residual waste (with associated higher disposal tariffs). The real problem is that compliance with the new requirements is generally not a priority for many municipalities. A shor tage of landfill airspace in Gauteng and the Western Cape was the main trigger that resulted in action towards waste diversion away from landfill to alternative waste treatment technologies (AWTT) in these provinces. For example, a ban on organic waste disposal in the Western Cape has seen an increase in investment in composting facilities, and the shor tage of
landfill airspace in Gauteng saw investment by the Gauteng Infrastructure Funding Agency in feasibility studies for AWTT in all three metros in Gauteng. Municipalities perceive moving waste up the waste management hierarchy as an ‘unfunded mandate’. The Constitution of South Africa outlines the waste management mandate of municipalities as refuse removal, refuse dumps and solid waste disposal. A consequence of this situation is that municipalities are slow to initiate waste separation-at-source initiatives, resulting in only 7% of urban households and 2.6% of households in towns and rural areas showing regular recycling behaviour in 2015. Common operational challenges faced by municipalities include littering, illegal dumping, ser vice backlogs, ser vice interruptions resulting from breakdowns associated with ageing vehicles, inadequate plant and equipment, and insufficient waste management infrastructure. Many municipal landfills are nearing the end of their designed lifespan; while the development of new infrastructure such as materials recover y facilities, buyback centres, and drop-off centres to diver t waste away from landfill, and the introduction of sustainable AWTT options, are lagging behind. Many municipal by-laws assign ownership of waste to the municipality, which hampers private sector
