Government acknowledges seriousness of waste problem

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She was speaking at the inaugural National Waste Management Summit, which was recently held in White River, Mpumalanga. Convened under the theme 'War on Waste, Driving the recycling economy in South Africa', the summit emphasised the creation of a radical approach to enable an environment conducive for economic growth within the waste management sector.

The summit brought together over 500 government representatives, waste management practitioners, academia and civil society to device means to accelerate the notion of recycling economy by eliminating bottlenecks in the waste management sector. It provided a platform for robust, constructive, and technical engagements on waste management priorities for the country.

Planning and governance

Discussions revolved around planning and governance, waste service delivery, and infrastructure development for effective waste management. These issues need urgent attention from all spheres of government and the waste management industry at large.

"The waste information baseline study that my department conducted in 2011, revealed that approximately 108 million tons of waste generated, of which 97 million was disposed to landfill. Only 10% of the generated waste is South Africa was recycled in 2011. This tells us that we have a problem. South Africa needs to change. We are a 'throwaway' society, and there is a need for a paradigm shift," Molewa said.

Further deliberations focused on issues such as co-regulatory approaches for effective waste management in accordance to the requirements of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (NEMWA). The NEMWA has been enacted to amongst other matters give a clear division of roles, responsibilities, and mandatory obligations for the three spheres of government, private sector and civil society. This legislative alignment governing waste demonstrates the government's ambition for a clean environment and a healthy society in South Africa.

Economic opportunities

The waste management sector has viable economic opportunities that the summit acknowledged still need to be unlocked. It is for this reason that government and other relevant institutions are exploring the notion of recycling economy.

Molewa urged delegates to enhance their effort in dealing with waste management with an intention of contributing to South Africa's economic growth and job creation through the notion of recycling economy. "As waste management practitioners, academics, industry, civil society and the general public, we have to come to the realisation that business as usual in waste management will is inadequate. We need to rise to the challenge and develop innovative ideas on how we can improve waste management systems in the country to drive the recycling economy."