1. National Environmental Management: Waste Amendment Bill [B ] - 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

2. Constraints to waste innovation in SA
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3. Establishment of waste businesses
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4. 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
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5. 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;”;
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6. 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.
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7. 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
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8. 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.
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9. Thank You