Question NW3860 to the Minister of Environmental Affairs
04 December 2017 - NW3860
Hadebe, Mr TZ to ask the Minister of Environmental Affairs
With reference to the product design and waste minimisation plans of her Department which certain official’s (name and details furnished) claims will be carried out by raising awareness, (a) what other measures will be taken to reduce waste, and (b) how will awareness reduce waste?
Reply:
a) The following measures will be implemented to promote waste reduction:
- Developing capacity through a specialised programme which upskills agri-stakeholders to minimise food loss.
- Compilation and updating of packaging design guidelines with the Department of Trade and Industry, Industry Associations and SABS, and a voluntary grading scheme with marketing value for brand owners can improve the design of packaging and increase collaboration between brand owners and recycling companies.
- Formalising the packaging industry extended producer responsibility plans to enable and support the unification and alignment around packaging design guidelines and other packaging industry initiatives, a mechanism which formalises Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
- Implementation of packaging design guideline once it has been developed.
b) The awareness initiatives are additional measures to enhance waste minimisation and promote the recycling economy. These measures aim to create a joint platform for communicating messages to improve consumer behaviour and industry practice towards pro-recycling in the waste sector by focusing on specific areas, including:
- minimisation of food waste by eating ugly fruit;
- separation of waste at household-level (e.g. promote the incentives and/or Buy Back Centres, re-inforce the benefits of not contaminating paper waste with food waste, etc.); and
- safe disposal of waste (e.g. promote and create awareness on the e-Waste drop-off centres).
The awareness raising measures will increase consumer awareness and demand for recyclable products that are packaged in an environmentally friendly manner.
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