Programme director
Honourable MEC’s responsible for the Environment portfolio from various provinces of our country
Various heads of departments with us today
Representatives from the SA Local Government Association (SALGA)
Various MMC’s in attendance today
Waste Management officials from various spheres of government
Ladies and gentlemen
I wish to express my appreciation for this opportunity to address this first Waste Management Conference. We are meeting here today with the aim of addressing three areas of our work around waste management.
Firstly, we are here to celebrate the most important policy achievement for waste management in South Africa, which is the promulgation of the Waste Act, which came into effect on 1 July 2009. Secondly, we are here to ponder the implementation challenges and opportunities presented by the Waste Management Regulatory and Governance Framework. Thirdly, and lastly we are here to launch the National Waste Management Officers’ Khoro.
We borrowed the name Khoro from the Venda-speaking people of our country who refer to gatherings of this nature – Imbizo or Lekgotla – as Khoro.
The promulgation of the Waste Act was aimed at addressing the waste problem we have had for decades by instituting mechanisms of waste avoidance, minimisation, recycling, recovery, appropriate licensing, collection and storage requirements as well as environmentally sound treatment and disposal of problematic waste streams.
Effective waste management can positively position waste management as one of the drivers of the green economy, given that our urban households generate about 15 million tons of waste annually, while industry accounts for 25 million tons annually. This presents us with an opportunity to drive recycling options to create job opportunities and boost economic development.
This act presents us all with this golden opportunity to drive recycling economy with the municipalities being at the coalface of service delivery and equally expected to be central to effective management of waste.
We are serious about setting new standards with regards to waste management, hence this year we will be setting recycling targets, which will help us monitor the rate at which we are implementing the waste hierarchy, and especially diverting waste from landfills. We cannot continue on this trajectory as a “throw-away” society, we need a paradigm shift that upholds and cherishes the age-old values that cleanliness is next to godliness.
Ladies and gentlemen, the green economy challenges us all to be innovative and entrepreneurial in how we respond to the new waste management regime. This new regime allows us to innovatively create jobs in a manner that involves our communities as well as SMMEs in the waste management solutions that we can develop.
I now want to talk about a subject that has for some time now locked the DEA officials and industry, and in particular, the banking and property sectors in lengthy discussions. That is the subject of how we deal with contaminated land. Historically in South Africa, it has been relatively easy to contaminate land without any serious consequences because there were no ways of holding polluters accountable. This resulted in situations that contaminated land.
For the first time in South African legislation we have provision for the remediation of contaminated land. Now that the department has concluded the framework for the remediation of contaminated land where government ended up having to deal with and finance the clean-up of land, the coming into effect of the contaminated land section of the Act is imminent. I will soon be able to identify contaminated land and order investigations to determine the extent of contamination as well as the form of remediation required.
There will be a database or register of all contaminated land which will be linked to the Deeds Register to ensure that transfers take into account information relating to the contamination of land parcels. This requires every citizen and every entity, to observe the duty of care principle in the act. We have taken the view that the cost of reducing pollution must be shared between people who are responsible for waste – the polluters. We are now saying the policy of the polluter pays will be strictly pursued without any fear.
It is the nature of policy-making that we must always respond to new challenges as and when they arise. I would like to highlight three of these areas that require our intervention, and concern me extremely; firstly the provision of waste services to all, secondly, the management of Health Care Risk Waste or medical waste and thirdly is the area of public education and awareness.
It must offend us all that in this day and age about 45 percent of South Africans, mainly living in informal settlements and rural areas cannot access domestic waste collection services. It is a major indictment to our people that we are not as yet able to offer all of them this basic service. We should never find contentment until we have extended waste management services to all citizens in this country.
It is our responsibility as government to ensure that all our people access basic services. We take a strong pro-poor approach to service delivery; hence I will shortly be taking to Cabinet a National Policy on the Provision of Basic Refuse Removal to the Indigents.
This policy seeks to ensure that even those people that cannot afford to pay for waste services can have access to this basic service.
I am aware of the many challenges that face municipalities with regards to waste services, but the need to expand delivery of the solid waste services sector will require, amongst others, greater efficiency of fiscal mechanisms and a clear strategy to improve operating efficiencies, secure financial sustainability of waste services delivery, and boost municipal revenues.
Like all South Africans, I am extremely concerned about the cases of Health Care Risk Waste or medical waste. We cannot stand by and watch as our people’s right to a clean and safe environment is being violated and their health placed at risk.
The medical waste treatment challenges require a multi-pronged approach which has short to long term deliverables. In the short term, the department in conjunction with provinces has put in place a measure to deal with sudden spikes of treatment incapacity. I am happy that both Holfontein and Vissershoek are on board, and will accept Health Care Risk Waste at the department’s instruction, only as an emergency measure.
Parallel to that there is substantive policy work that the Department of Environmental Affairs together with the national Department of Health are involved in, to provide policy certainty to the industry and deal with some of the non-compliance that we have all witnessed for a long time now.
In the long term however, we need to stimulate Health Care Risk Waste treatment capacity in the country and also ensure that the national Health Care system is assured of the availability of compliant treatment capacity at all times. Again, the department together with the Department of Health will shortly be registering a Public Private Partnership (PPP) process with National Treasury to vigorously pursue the option of a regional treatment facility for Health Care Risk Waste.
This complex problem of waste management does not only require governance and fiscal reform, it also requires a change of mindset – a paradigm shift. The effectiveness of many waste measures, particularly those aimed at waste reduction, recycling and litter prevention, depends to a significant extent on public and consumer awareness and changes in behaviour.
The development of a coherent communications and awareness strategy around waste issues is an important matter that has been correctly identified by the National Waste Management Strategy as key to the implementation of the Waste Hierarchy. Awareness of and responses to waste issues is very uneven across different South African communities, and there is a clear need for high-profile state-led and integrated public awareness campaigns to support initiatives in relation to littering, as well as to promote a general awareness of waste issues.
We will not abdicate our responsibility in this regard, hence Indalo Yethu, in conjunction with Buyisa-e-Bag and the Department of Environmental Affairs have carefully planned the content of the National Waste Management Campaign.
This campaign - Make Mzantsi Beautiful- which I launched on World Environment Day in June 2010, is well aligned with waste services delivery measures such as separation at source, waste avoidance etc, and I invite all of you to participate in the campaign.
As I conclude, it is now my pleasure to launch the very first Annual Waste Management Officers’ Khoro.
The Waste Act requires that I designate an officer in the Department of Environmental Affairs, as the National Waste Management Officer, to coordinate matters pertaining to waste management. Honourable MECs, you will be aware that the act also requires each of you to appoint an official who will co-ordinate waste management matters within the provinces. Municipalities are expected to do the same.
I have already fulfilled the act’s requirement and led by example, by appointing Ms Nolwazi Cobbinah, as the National Waste Management Officer and Chairperson of the Waste Management Officers’ Khoro.
Let us speed up the process of these appointments so that we can fast track addressing the fragmentation of waste management functions within government using this specialised system of officials.
The department will host an annual Waste Khoro like this one, to take stock of the achievements, examine challenges, opportunities and gaps in the implementation of the National Environmental Management Waste Act and to look at a programme of action which will guide government and partners through the following year.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to take this opportunity to unveil the Khoro logo.
I wish you all a fruitful meeting.
I thank you.
