National Environmental Management: Waste Amendment Bill [B32-2013] - Strengthening institutional arrangements and planning matters for the management of waste by all spheres of government Presentation by Dr Suzan Oelofse Research Group Leader: Waste for Development Competency Area: Solutions for a Green Economy Operating Unit: Natural Resources and the Environment

Constraints to waste innovation in SA © CSIR 2013

Establishment of waste businesses © CSIR 2013

Issues of concern Four issues Definition of By-product Definition of Waste Establishment of a Waste Management Agency Amendment of Section 4 making the Waste Act applicable to disposal of animal carcasses © CSIR 2014

Definition of by-product Bill Comment Suggestion " 'by-product' means a substance that is produced as part of a manufacturing or extraction process that is primarily intended to produce another substance [or product and that has the characteristics of an equivalent virgin product or material] which the generator intends to exploit or market on terms which are advantageous to the generator in a subsequent process, without any further processing”; This is a great improvement to the definition currently in the Act. However the proposed altered definition appears overly complex and again leaving room for interpretation. “Without any further processing “ also limits the potential for waste to be used as a resource The definition could be simplified as follows:   'by-product' means a substance that is produced as part of a manufacturing or extraction process that is primarily intended to produce another substance and can be marketed as a product in its own right [or product and that has the characteristics of an equivalent virgin product or material] which the generator intends to exploit or market on terms which are advantageous to the generator in a subsequent process, without any further processing;”; © CSIR 2014

Definition of waste Bill Comment Suggestion " 'waste' means any substance, whether or not that substance can be reduced, re-used, recycled and recovered─ It is not possible to reuse and recover waste when considering the definition of recovery 'waste' means any substance, whether or not that substance can be reduced, re-used, recycled [and] or recovered─ (a) that is surplus, unwanted, rejected, discarded, abandoned or disposed of; This statement seems to be unnecessary when considering (b) Delete subsection (a) (b) which the generator has no further use of for the purposes of production; This statement can be strengthened by including a need to have a market for “by- products” (b) which the generator has no further use of for the purposes of production and for which no current market exists; (c) that must be treated or disposed of; or Status quo supported   (d) that is defined as a waste by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, and includes waste generated by the mining, medical or other sector, but— A by product is not considered to be waste; [and] or This seems to be an unnecessary statement Delete any portion of waste, once re-used, recycled or recovered, ceases to be waste"; This subsection remains problematic. It is for instance not clear when during the recycling process which comprise several steps, plastic waste is considered to be recycled. © CSIR 2014

Establishment of waste management agency Insufficient public consultation on this issue to justify the inclusion thereof in the Act There is no clear need for such an agency Previous negative experience with Buyisa-e-bag is not to be repeated There is no mention of powers assigned to the agency, yet Section 34D refers to powers It is not clear how the agency will facilitate development of industry waste management plans It is not clear how a government agency will be able to coordinate and manage the implementation of industry waste management plans – government’s role should be limited to approval, monitoring and auditing Funding sources and mechanisms for the agency is not clearly defined © CSIR 2014

Amendment of Section 4 Bill Comment Suggestion Section 4 of the principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion in subsection (1) of paragraph (d). It is not clear why this deletion is proposed as it may result in conflicting regulatory requirements between two acts. The disposal of animal carcasses is regulated by the Animal Health Act, 
2002 (Act No 7 of 2002). Deleting (d) will result in requiring that the disposal of animal carcasses be regulated under NEM: WA which will require supporting regulations or standards. © CSIR 2014

Thank You E-mail: soelofse@csir.co.za www.csir.co.za