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South Africa has significant waste management challenges, but the Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for paper and packaging are helping to divert waste from landfill sites to recycling processes, writes Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy.
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Urgent action is required to combat plastic pollution and its detrimental impacts on human health, the economy and the environment.
To mark World Environment Day 2023, I visited two recycling plants in Cape Town that are supported through Producer Responsibility Organisations to gain insights into the roles Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes are playing in plastic recycling.
The two projects, Waste Want in Kraaifontein and CRDC SA RESIN8 plant in the Blackheath industrial area are involved in different aspects of the recycling value chain. Waste Want employs 200 people and diverts 1 000 tonnes of plastic waste from landfills every month.
CRDC SA RESIN8 is a site where plastic is mixed and converted into an aggregate modifier for the construction industry. The company currently processes 450kg of waste daily and aims to reach 610 tonnes per month when it reaches full production.
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According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in South Africa, a little over 2.5 million tonnes of plastic are produced annually. Poor waste management practices mean that as much as half of post-consumer plastic is not properly disposed of and risks leaking into the environment.
At the second Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC2) on Plastic Pollution in Paris, France, South Africa joined 175 nations in reaffirming our commitment to developing an international legally-binding instrument to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, by the end of 2024.
During INC2 in Paris, an agreement was reached on a mandate for the preparation of a zero-draft text of the instrument for consideration at the third session of the committee that will be hosted by the Africa Region in Nairobi, Kenya, from 13-17 November 2023.
The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment is leading the African Group of Negotiators, and we will jointly review Africa's progress to date in August this year.
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In my view, such an international legally binding agreement aims to bring about greater accountability, cooperation and innovation between government, industry, EPR schemes and waste reclaimers to address the plastic pollution problem.
In South Africa, the negotiating process is already bringing about greater agreement and collaboration between all stakeholders as they work to identify achievable goals to ensure plastic waste and pollution are effectively addressed.
South Africa has significant waste management challenges. These include poor landfill practices and sporadic household waste collection, as well as unacceptable levels of illegal dumping in many parts of the country.
Our EPR schemes for paper and packaging have begun the important work of diverting waste from landfill sites. Last year over 1.5 million tonnes of paper and packing were diverted from landfill through recycling, recovery, and treatment.
The department is strengthening compliance and enforcement measures, especially against free riders, that undermine the collective efforts to address waste management challenges.
Our Recycling Enterprise Support Programme has, in the past six years, supported 56 start-ups and emerging SMMEs and cooperatives operating within the waste sector, providing more than R300 million in financial support, creating 1 558 jobs and diverting over 200 000 tonnes of waste from landfills.
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To support municipalities, we are re-invigorating the Presidential Good Green Deeds programme to focus on cleaning and greening the provincial capitals: cities included are Mangaung, Polokwane, Mbombela, Mahikeng, Sol Plaatjie, Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay, Sedibeng, West Rand, Ekurhuleni, Umsunduzi, and the Greater Cape flats region including Langa, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Elsies River, Mfuleni, Phillipi and Bonteheuwel.
Our programme will see the creation of 2 000 work opportunities per province through the Expanded Public Works Programme for a period of 12 months to support municipalities in the provincial capitals to clean up dump sites, plant trees, and stop littering in selected streets.
In these cities, additional support will also be given to ensure waste management authorities have access to the yellow fleet, and there is a greater focus on improving landfill compliance and support for the diversion of waste to recycling activities.
Their efforts are being complemented by the 32 waste enterprises that have been supported to increase the recycling of construction and demolition waste, plastic, packaging, and other waste streams.
Barbara Creecy is the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
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