Overview by Minister on Waste Streams (General & Hazardous); SALGA on local government support programme for waste sector

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

15 February 2022
Chairperson: Mr P Modise (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

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The Portfolio Committee met virtually to be briefed by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) on the state of waste disposal in South Africa.

The DFFE reported that according to the state of waste report, South Africa generates around 107.7 million tonnes of waste annually. Big volumes of waste were being land-filled -- 92.7% of hazardous waste, and 65% of general waste. Budgetary constraints were limiting investment on the separation of waste at source for various waste streams.

The Committee asked the DFFE to provide statistics on the state-controlled versus privatised landfill sites. How much of the imported plastic waste was dumped and beneficiated? It called for disposable nappies to have a classification of their own so it could be monitored appropriately. The Department was also asked to come up with innovative ways for people to generate a sufficient livelihood from collecting waste and to develop waste management awareness programmes for schools.

The DFFE said it had developed a composting regulatory framework that supported services at an industrialised municipal level. It was currently consulting on disposable nappies and agreed that they needed to strengthen the measures for producers to take more responsibility for disposal. With Working Group 8, it was looking into creating waste parks at regional sites that could service more than one municipality, instead of landfill sites. There were seven private new landfill sites and more than 630 municipal sites. 98% of the imported waste was recycled, recovered and beneficiated, and only 2% was dumped.

The Committee asked what measures were used to determine whether a municipality had an adequate waste disposal facility. What could be done to ensure that municipalities were assisted with yellow fleet services? What was the nature of the training offered to municipal officials for waste management?

SALGA said they supported the use of outsourced services to augment cases where the municipalities lacked the necessary capacity and skills to deliver waste management services. It was encouraging municipalities to support each other by exchanging information on how they overcome the challenges involved in providing services in unproclaimed areas. Both the DFFE and SALGA provide training for municipal officials at landfill sites regarding the separation of waste at source, while SALGA also conducts waste management training for newly-elected municipal councillors.

 

Meeting report

Mr P Modise (ANC) was elected as the acting Chairperson, because the Chairperson, Ms F Muthambi, had been admitted to hospital.

Apologies were received from Ms S Mbatha (ANC) and Ms T Mchunu (ANC) because they were travelling to Cape Town. Mr N Capa (ANC) was attending another Portfolio Committee meeting. Apologies were also received from the Director-General (DG) of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), Ms Nomfundo Tshabalala. An apology was received from a member of the National Executive Committee who represented the environmental sector of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

Minister's opening remarks

Ms Barbara Creecy, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment, said waste, as a piece of environmental legislation, had a concomitant function in terms of the Constitution, ensuring that all the spheres of government -- national, provincial and local -- had responsibilities for waste collection and management. The primary function at a national level was to set policies and issue licences for various categories of disposal and management of waste. Many citizens were concerned about waste management in the country, and the fact that 25 to 30% of households in the country did not have regular waste collection and disposal services. People were therefore forced to engage in their own waste disposal mechanisms, leading to a widespread problem of illegal dumping.

The DFFE and SALGA had collaborated to look at how waste collection could be improved in the municipalities. The Minister said that the Portfolio Committee needs to acknowledge and understand that waste management in the country was complex.

State of the Waste Management in South Africa

Ms Mamogala Musekene, Deputy Director-General (DDG): Chemicals and Waste Management, DFFE, said the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008) (NEMWA), in areas of concurrent function, provides the Minister with national responsibility. Members of Executive Committees (MECs) were responsible for policies in their provinces, municipalities had to use their by-laws in the management of waste in their municipalities, and the different spheres of government had to implement sections of the regulations that related to their specific areas or province.

The Municipal Systems Act (Act no 32 of 2000), aligned to NEMWA, allowed the municipal councils to implement specific sections in the respective jurisdictions of local government.

The National Waste Management Strategy, 2020 (NWMS 2020) provides the roles of different role-players, including national government, provinces and municipalities. The strategy incorporates the waste hierarchy and circular economy under three themes:
(a) waste management;
(b) effective and sustainable waste services; and
(c) compliance, enforcement and awareness.

The first NWMS on the NEMWA came into effect in 2012 and had eight goals. The revised 2020 NWMS was gazetted for implementation on 28 January 2021.

Integrated waste management plans (IWMPs) were a key planning tool for municipalities and provinces to provide universal access to waste collection services. About 50% of municipalities and provinces had IWMPs.

According to the general household survey of 2020, Ekhurhuleni had the highest waste services of all metros over South Africa, at above 90%. The Western Cape was the most waste-serviced province in the country (above 85%), and also the highest in terms of municipalities with IWMPs.

Challenges on waste services

Waste collection services in metros ranged from 70% - 90%, and the challenge was the informal settlements.
Waste collection services in traditional areas were just below 40% due to limited municipal influence in the areas.
There was an average of 70% of access to waste collection services across the country.

According to the state of waste report, South Africa generates around 107.7 million tonnes of waste annually, with approximately 21% being diverted from landfill. Waste classification and management regulations (WCMR, 2013) categorise waste into general and hazardous.

Big volumes of waste were being land-filled -- 92.7% of hazardous waste, and 65% of general waste.
The largest contribution to the total quantity of general waste was organic waste, at 34.6%, which comprised biomass from sugar mills, sawmills, and the paper and pulp industry. This was followed by bottom ash (11.7%), slag and municipal waste (8.7% each), construction and demolition waste (8.1%), and metals (7.3%).

The regulatory measures put in place to divert organic waste include a waste activity list that is linked with norms and standards for composting organic waste treatments, exclusions and waste flagship programmes.

Budgetary constraints were limiting investment on the separation of waste at source for various waste streams.

Discussion

Mr D Bryant (DA) commented that adequate information had been provided on the state of waste management in the country. He was hugely concerned about the recycling of general waste, particularly the hazardous component. How could one increase the capacity to recycle imported plastic waste? It had been highlighted that approximately 6% of hazardous waste generated in 2017 was reused or recycled, and 73% of the batteries were recycled. Was that 73% of the 6%, or 73% of all batteries in the country? He found it hard to believe that 73% of all batteries were recycled because most people threw their batteries away, considering there were few hazardous waste landfill sites and wanted these statistics to be clarified.

Mr Bryant said that home composting was a quick way to reduce the amount of waste before going to the landfill. He suggested the DEFF should check the pilot City of Cape Town (CoCT) composting projects rolled out in numerous households across the metro, as he thought this initiative could be replicated across the entire country to reduce waste cost-effectively. Was there enough landfill capacity to cater for the ever-increasing amount of waste being produced across the country? Landfill sites had life spans, so they had to be closed at some stage for new ones. Was there enough space to also build new landfill sites?

Mr N Paulsen (EFF) asked how many of the landfill sites were state-controlled and privatised. Where were the locations of waste recycling sites? How close were they to where the majority of people generated waste? How did the DFFE manage the implementation of the eight frameworks/goals that were highlighted in the national waste strategy under NEMWA? Could the Committee get regular updates about the implementation, because this would aid it in assessing the effectiveness of the waste management strategies?

Ms C Phillips (DA) asked how much imported waste was dumped and how much was beneficiated. Could the Committee be forwarded a list of the companies that were receiving grants, especially in the e-waste area? What was the total worth of the contract for each company? How much money had been paid to date? How much money was due? What was the date for the balance of the money to be paid? Were these companies required to meet any targets? She asked how much of the parliamentary waste was recycled, including the plastic bottles of water the Members of Parliament get in every sitting. She said that there were no recycling stations at the parliamentary villages, and “if we were not recycling as the leaders in the country, how could we expect other people to be recycling?” Could this be addressed with the Department of Public Works?

Ms Phillps said there was an urban legend that said if one littered one was creating job opportunities. It would be nice if they could erase this particular urban legend by showing how much money it cost, how little waste pickers actually benefited from it, how much more they could benefit from it and how much more dignified it would be to recycle than to bend over and pick up waste in the streets. There was nothing wrong with being a waste picker -- they were needed, and they occurred everywhere -- but sometimes people were hired to pick waste when they could really be used more beneficially for themselves and their families. Also, people must know that just because they were littering, it did not mean they were creating a sustainable job for the waste picker.

Ms A Weber (DA) said that the landfills' sites were a problem, especially where she came from. Actual waste was in the centre of residential areas, as there was no place to put the waste anymore. She asked why disposable nappies were classified as hazardous household waste. Under what waste type was it categorised, and if it did not fall under any type, could it be individually classified so that it could be properly monitored? She said 92% of nappies did not get to the landfill sites. They were taken out of the rivers and dams because they blocked the flow of the water. What could be done to reduce the disposal of nappies from a legislative point of view, because the nappy companies did not have any plan to reduce them? What happened to these nappies when they got to the landfill sites?

Mr N Singh (IFP) asked if the privatised waste recycling plants were incentivised by government. What were the single used products for which Section 18 notices had been developed and implemented? He said the challenge with local government was that not all of them were able to deal with waste. What percentage of the local authorities had waste management offices in the local municipalities?

He had seen a very interesting clip in an international country where cans were dumped in a vending machine, and people were paid out money. Could South Africa look at this type of international initiative to encourage people to collect waste and generate a living from it, especially in the informal settlements? All people littered -- the question was wherever they littered, was there provision for them to litter? For example, there were insufficient bins in his area.

What had happened to cleaning up the cities, as highlighted in last year's State of the Nation Address (SONA)? Were there any particular standards that compared internationally on the amount of waste that had to be diverted to the landfill site, and the capacity of the site? When would the organic treatment plan be finalised for organic waste, and what would it propose? Was there any monitoring and an update on flagship waste programmes in the municipalities? What was being to encourage more disposal areas to be created, rather than hazardous waste having to be transported for more than 700 km? How could it be ensured that the transported hazardous waste did not become dangerous in case of an accident?

Ms N Gantsho (ANC) said that the local municipalities were culprits when it came to waste management because they did not provide consistent service in terms of waste collection. There was a need to ask the local municipalities to take the issue of waste management seriously. They must introduce refuse containers and the distribution of black bags so that the local communities could dump their refuse. She added that the local municipalities need to enforce their bylaws, as well as create waste management awareness.

The Acting Chairperson asked the DFFE where radioactive waste from the Koeberg nuclear power station fits in the current South African waste classification system. Did the DFFE have long term management plans to deal with mine dump waste that originated from derelict mines? How did the Department ensure that the agreement with South African Police Services (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on increasing the enforcement of the NEMWA and municipal bylaws relating to pollution, littering and illegal dumping was adhered to? Had it met with these entities, especially at the local government level?

DFFE's responses

Minister Creecy when she was appointed in 2019, she had written to the Speaker of Parliament to consider replacing the plastic water bottles with glass water bottles, but did not get a satisfactory response. She was therefore appealing to the Portfolio Committee to raise this issue with the Parliamentary Affairs Committee. She agreed that single use plastic was an issue, although plastic water bottles had a great rate of recycling in the country. She also agreed that recycling at source at the parliamentary villages would be beneficial.

Ms Musekene said that the source separation of waste played a key role in the recycling value chain. Increasing the capacity to recycle waste leads to the intervention of extended producer responsibility (EPR). The extended producer invests in the collection aspect of the value chain to minimise contamination. She said that there had been an increased importation of plastic waste because of undeveloped collection systems. The EPR would ensure that the DFFE invests in the collection system leading to decreased importation. The country was importing separated plastic waste that went into creating new products.

Ms Musekene said the DFFE had developed a composting regulatory framework that supported services at an industrialised municipal level. In terms of landfill capacity, the City of Johannesburg in Gauteng was under pressure in terms of the remaining landfill space. The DFFE was working with the infrastructure agencies at the provincial level to determine alternative waste treatment technologies. She added that the national waste management strategy had been approved by the Cabinet in 2020, and had highlighted the three pillars that were guiding the DFFE's delivery. The DFFE was meeting with intergovernmental relations (IGR) structures, such as MINTEK Working Group 8 and SALGA, and had appointed waste management officers at the provincial level quarterly to assess progress.

She said that there was a recycling enterprise support programme that was awarded grants. Historical information of the companies that received grant support and the targets per their service level agreements. could be provided in a written format.

The DFFE was currently consulting about disposable nappies and agreed that there was a need to strengthen the measures for producers to take more responsibility. The DFFE was looking into whether an EPR could be relevant or not - it was still in its early stages. There was a refuse-derived fuel, where disposable nappies could be used to provide energy. She added that some of the buy-back centres were privately owned. The reselling of recyclables was incentivised. The Good Green Deeds programme was aligned to the thuma mina mandate, and used the mass public employment expanded public works programme (EPWP) in certain local municipalities for cleaning in particular spaces.

Radioactive waste was not covered under the NEMWA mandate but was covered under the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) Act, with its own classification. The DFFE was part of the management in the form of two colleagues who sit on the board, as per the legislative requirement for the National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute.

Ms Mishelle Govender, Chief Director: Hazardous Waste Management & Licensing, DFFE, said that the figures presented did not reflect all the batteries that existed in the waste sector, but only the bulk of lead batteries with an intrinsic value. The DFFE wanted the portable battery sector to have its own standard producer responsibility notice, and they were working on a plan to get rid of these batteries with a low recyclable value from households. Therefore, the 73% focused mostly on the lead batteries.

She said there were plans in various provinces to handle waste, but the DFFE faced challenges. For example, in the Western Cape, it had applied for a regional landfill site and it was now more than 20 years since the process had started. The community had appealed to not have the landfill site located next to their residential areas. The DFFE, with Working Group 8, were looking into creating waste parks with regional sites that could service more than one municipality, instead of landfill sites. These waste parks would deal not only with the disposal but the recovery and recycling of waste, where only the residue from components of reusable waste was disposed of. There were seven private new landfill sites -- six highly hazardous and one low hazardous. There were more than 630 municipal sites, with some of the municipalities like Eden and the City of Cape Town handling hazardous waste.

Ms Govender said that 98% of the imported waste was recycled, recovered and beneficiated, and only 2% was dumped. Only dumped waste from Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries with no specific engineered landfill sites -- for instance, for the handling of asbestos -- was allowed. In terms of bilateral agreements, waste from other countries outside of SADC, but within Africa, was accepted. Waste from western countries and the countries that could design and implement their own disposal systems was not accepted.

The long term plan for dumping mine waste lay within the DMRE. The DFFE had compiled the norms and standards for residue deposits and stockpiles, which examine mine residue as a potential product rather than waste.

The DFFE had agreed with SAPS and NPA in terms of NEMWA enforcements. It had a standard operating procedure with SAPS and NPA, and we were prosecuting more and more transgressions in terms of the Waste Act. There was an existing reporting system in place that was run by the DFFE’s enforcement unit that reports and offers compliance status across the country in terms of cases. It was operational at all spheres of government because there were "green scorpions" at all levels that dealt with all municipal bylaws.

Mr Kgauta Mokoena, Chief Director: Chemicals and Waste Policy Evaluation and Monitoring, DFFE, said that there were short-term interventions to deal with Koeberg nuclear waste. When there were applications for energy facilities, an environmental management plan would be developed and it would indicate how the radioactive waste would be treated or managed. He added that because of the high level of radioactive waste, encapsulation was the recommended method to manage it. The method was not treating the waste 100%, but it was encapsulated for safe storage and reduced exposure to human beings and the environment.

The work required to manage mine dumps was a challenge. It was safe to say that regulations had been developed for the management of mine residue at new mines that would be established as a result of new prospecting exploration and mining rights. He stressed that these regulations did not apply retrospectively to historical mines. There were programmes in place from DMRE on the regulations for derelict and ownerless mines, due to costs and associated challenges. Asbestos mine dumps had been prioritised, while other intervention plans were in place for less toxic, deteriorated mines.

Follow-up questions

Mr Bryant asked if the DFFE could confirm that South Africa was importing plastic waste from Germany and China, and what would happen to the contracts for the importation of plastic waste that currently existed if South Africa started recycling its own plastic waste. Should it not be doing a lot more to promote the collection of recycled waste through door-to-door separation and collection programmes? It was crazy that South Africa managed to recycle 98% of the imported plastic waste, yet it recycled only 10% of its own plastic waste. A lot of this plastic waste from South Africa was ending up in the ocean, causing devastation to marine life.

Where were the many new sites that had been identified in the discussions that were mentioned between the Gauteng provincial authorities and the City of Johannesburg? 20 years was far too long to wait for an application, regardless of the number of objections that came from communities. Obviously no one would want a dumpsite next to their home. A decision had to be taken at some stage -- one could not wait for another 20 years.

Mr Bryant said he supported the quest by the Minister to move from plastic to glass water bottles during parliamentary sittings. He added that he had talked about this with his Chief Whip, and he had said this issue had been raised a long time ago, but they had been concerned that glass water bottles could be used as weapons for fighting in Parliament.

Mr Singh asked if the DFFE was adhering to any international standards regarding the establishment and monitoring of the landfill sites. Could the Committee have more information on organic waste management plans? Would the DFFE consider assisting private crematoriums with the new innovative water cremation methods?

Ms Musekene said the issue regarding the imported plastic waste that comes from Germany and China would be responded to in writing. She also asked to respond to the new landfill site questions after the Friday meeting. Regarding the norms and standards on organic waste, when they engaged with the biogas sector it became clear that the DFFE had to consider lessening the administrative burden so that not everything, such as even small biodigesters, did not go through the waste management licensing process. She said that the DFFE would engage with the stakeholders to find new ways of dealing with human remains with less environmental impact.

Ms Govender said there was a plan in place by the Western Cape government to look at another regional site, and it was going to take some time. Options had been explored by the Western Cape to push for currently licensed sites to be used to reduce the amount of waste coming in, especially organic waste, using it in combined heat and power generation so that the space at the landfill sites could be saved. She said the 2% referred to disposal waste, stressing that they did not accept waste from other countries for disposal, but recycling.

She added that the DFFE was on par with the rest of the world regarding the design of landfill sites. The issues it faced involved the operation, monitoring and compliance with international standards, which were addressed through the compliance monitoring unit at the national departments and provincial unit”

Local government waste management support programme

Mr Mthobeli Kolisa, Chief Officer: Infrastructure Delivery, Spatial Transformation & Sustainability, SALGA, said the presentation would look at the overview of the waste sector from a local government perspective, as well as the implemented support programmes. The reality of the matter was that municipal spaces were filthy, so action was required to clean the spaces. The presentation would look at some of the critical binding constraints that SALGA wishes to engage the Portfolio Committee, such as raising public responsibility to keep cities clean, the scaling up of private partnerships, and increasing municipal capacity and waste financial management in the municipalities.

Ms Dorah Marema, Head: Municipal Sustainability, SALGA, said only 64.7% of households had access to waste collection services, according to StatsSA. Challenges impeding universal waste collection for households were:

backlogs in rural areas and informal areas where services were not historically provided;
lack of access to roads, waste collection vehicles, infrastructure (e.g. central collection points), capacity (staff and staff capacity);
leakage of waste material to the environment through littering and dumping, leading to unsustainable waste collection services and waste service backlogs; and
environmentally inactive citizenry.

According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) waste roadmap, the R25.2 billion economic potential of the waste sector was not fully tapped into.

The five-year local government support strategy under implementation for municipalities aimed to improve waste management and other environmental management functions. This strategy would prioritise the development, review and implementation of evidence-based waste support tools, such as integrated waste management plans, as well as the development and improvement of waste management systems and processes, and capacity building for both councillors and officials.

Ms Morema said SALGA leads the provision of hands-on support to low capacity and small municipalities through the provision of an authority function to develop waste planning tools. A model bylaw had been developed to assist municipalities to create their own bylaws. Fifty small and low municipalities had been assisted.

It also provided support for the improvement of the waste value chain. For instance, Mthatha was regarded as the dirtiest town in the country, and SALGA was conducting an assessment of the state of waste management and had worked with the municipality to develop a turn-around plan.

Discussion

Ms Phillips said that some municipalities did not collect refuge from the reconstruction and development programme (RDP) houses because the area had not been proclaimed, and wanted to know why an area had to be proclaimed and how this influenced a municipality’s collection of waste? She said that energy waste could be toxic and resulted in carbon emissions. There was a proven link between the incineration rate of waste and a reduction in recycling. Countries that incinerated their waste for energy were less likely to recycle. For example, there had been a malfunction at a plant in Denmark that had put a lot of toxins in the atmosphere, considering their strict and tight regulations. Did South Africa have legislation in place to control any harmful emissions from waste energy, and how would it be enforced?

Mr Paulsen asked about the establishment of landfill sites and waste disposal facilities. What was the standard in terms of size? What measurement was used to determine whether a municipality had an adequate waste disposal facility? What was an alternative way to access the areas that were inaccessible because of their roads? Could a central place be considered where these communities could dispose of waste for municipal collection?

He said that the municipal workers in Trompsburg had not been paid in September, October and November. As a result, they had scattered dirt across the town as a sign of protest. What could be done in a situation like this, when municipalities were poorly managed?

Ms Gantsho said that rural municipalities had to hire private companies if they needed yellow fleet vehicle services. What could be done to ensure that municipalities were assisted in terms of yellow fleet services?

Mr Singh asked SALGA if outsourced waste management was the way to go. There had been difficulties in many metros, where municipal officials had gone on strike for days because of outsourced services. What was the happy balance between outsourcing and in-sourcing? What was the nature of the training offered to municipal officials for waste management? Who funded this training? Did the DFFE have a performance monitor to evaluate the success of the training?

SALGA responses

Mr Kolisa said that there was a need for storage and servicing of the fleet expertise, and the development of infrastructure such as landfill sites in most municipalities that were in the lower category -- not metros or cities. As it would take years to meet that need. it was in that context SALGA was exploring the outsourcing of waste management services from the private sector to augment cases where municipalities lack capacity. He stressed that the outsourcing contract would be conducted in a risk free manner, where the private sector would simply be the service providers. SALGA was saying there was a need to look into public-private partnerships, where they increasingly share the risk with municipal partners in the area of infrastructure service provisions. They were not saying "just outsource everything," but were saying that where there was capacity, internal resources should be encouraged. It was also important to leverage skills from outside when the need arose.

He said the determinants of landfill size were based on the estimation of the amount of waste produced by the consumers. In the areas that did not have access to waste facilities, they had seen the innovation of some of our cities where they offer services and provide households in the informal settlements with plastic bags and demarcation of places near the settlements where households could take their waste. He stressed that this was not ideal, so it was discouraged, but due to a lack of access to households, most services such as waste and ambulance services could not be provided.

Mr Kolisa said it was not a requirement that waste could be collected only from proclaimed areas. However, municipalities prioritised areas so that once they were proclaimed, they could map them into their collection schedule. SALGA was encouraging municipalities to support each other by exchanging information on how they overcome the issue of planning to provide services for unproclaimed areas.

Mr Balanganani Nengovhela, Waste Management Specialist, SALGA, said that waste management services were logistical, with many operations involving medium to low skills that required constant capacitating and training. The DFFE and SALGA provided training for the low-skilled officials at the landfill sites regarding separation at source. SALGA had seen a lot of improvements in the categorisation of waste in the bins by municipal officials.

SALGA and the DFFE had lobbied National Treasury to allow for the reform of municipal infrastructure grants (MIGs). Previously, municipalities would not use the MIG to fund the yellow fleet trucks. Provision had been made, and low capacity municipalities were assisted by SALGA to use the MIG to eradicate the municipal backlog. It was critical to conceptualise and plan for waste management facilities and was also important to look at the size and amount of waste within a particular municipality. SALGA was encouraging municipalities to look at regional approaches to avoid the mushrooming of waste management facilities.

Ms Marema said that the training was provided by the DFFE, SALGA and other sector partners. For instance, SALGA was currently rolling out a programme with a Belgian government entity to provide municipalities with capacity building and training. Other partners such as the CSIR and the German Agency for International Cooperation were supporting the local government strategies and implementation plans. She added that SALGA reports to Working Group 8 for evaluation, and measures the effectiveness and impact of training on local municipality compliance and operations. If there was no progress, bilateral meetings were organised with the affected parties to get to the bottom of the issues that may not necessarily be related to skills and capacity building.

Mr Kolisa said that SALGA trains municipal councillors just after the elections. From March 2022, SALGA would be conducting portfolio-based induction training on waste management. He highlighted that there were global methods to convert waste to energy that had a lesser environmental impact compared to other methods. A feasibility study had been conducted in one of the municipalities in South Africa to examine the conversion of waste to energy using only residual waste. The study had concluded that there was no competition in the waste value chain because there was enough residual waste that could not have otherwise been used, other than going to the landfill site. There was a healthy co-existence between waste to energy and the recycling of recyclable waste”.

Mr Paulsen asked which was the cleanest municipality or city in the country because Mthatha was the dirtiest.

Mr Kolisa said that was a difficult question to answer, but he knew that the DFFE had been running a competition for clean and green cities. He did not think there was one, but from time to time in a particular year, different cities emerged as the winners. SALGA was trying to help municipalities when the situation became quite desperate.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

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