1. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
“The Provincial Perspective”
Presentation at the Johannesburg Waste Summit by
Zingisa Smale
March 2015

2. Contents Gauteng in relation to other South African Provinces
Gauteng: Context for waste management
Policy and Legislation considerations
Waste Management Statistics
Gauteng General Waste Composition
Waste Information Statistics for Jan 2013 – Dec 2013
Challenges, solutions and opportunities

3. Gauteng in relation to other SA Provinces

4. Gauteng : Context
Geographically, Gauteng is smallest of South Africa’s (SA) 9 provinces
Is the most populous province , with estimated million people % of estimated 54 million population (Stat SA, 2014)
Is the economic and industrial hub of South Africa with 36% contribution to SA gross domestic product (GDP) and 10 % contribution to Africa’s GDP (GPG SOPA, 2015)
International research has linked increase in wealth with increased waste generation (Matsunaga and Nickolas (2002), Shaw (1989)
Gauteng in 2011 contributed an estimated 45% to the total municipal waste generated in SA (DEA, 2012)
In 2013, 6.4 million tons (40.9%) of general waste was landfilled and 5.5 million tons (34.9% ) was recycled from a total of 15.7million tons reported (GWIS, 2014).
Waste generation is indicative of, and results in resource and energy wastage; may result in air, soil and water pollution , as well as land sterilization
Gauteng experiences competing land-uses and there is a need for job creation in the waste sector
There is a need to ensure the avoidance of waste generation and landfilling through efficient resource usage , reuse and recycling should be prioritised

5. Policy and Legislation considerations
The South African waste management policy supports a waste management approach which avoids waste generation, promotes : cleaner production , waste minimisation, re-use, recycling recovery and waste treatment with disposal seen as a last resort
There was in July an important milestone in the enactment of National Environmental Management: Waste Act, Act 59 of (“Waste Act”)
Provinces were enabled by the Waste Act Regulations to review Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and issue licenses for “listed activities” i.e. activities that “have, or are likely to have a detrimental effect on the environment including recycling of waste”
The listed activities were revised in 29 Nov 2013 to facilitate recycling
Norms and Standards were passed for, inter alia, storage of waste and for the scrapping of vehicles to facilitate recycling

6. Gauteng General Waste Composition (GDARD, 2010)

7. Waste Stats for Jan 2013 – Dec 2013 (GWIS, 2014) Total waste reported 15.7 Million tons

8. Some challenges, solutions and opportunities
Waste separation at source is not mainstreamed - leading to contamination and reduced recyclable volumes
Provision of a recyclable waste bag by all Gauteng municipalities as a minimum
Opportunity for SMME / Waste Pickers to be formalised to collect recycled waste away from landfills
65% of general waste not recycled in 2013
Resource efficiency opportunity for organisations
Illegal dumping of building and Demolition waste
All municipalities need to publicise where builders rubble is accepted
Research opportunity for materials scientists, innovation opportunity for the building industry
An opportunity for government to create a recyclable goods market by setting targets for buying SA recycled goods
Waste Service Provider contacts mainly based on collected and landfilled waste
New contracts must, by design, reward waste separation, re-use and recycling rather than reward disposal
Litter and illegal Dumping
Awareness raising that littering is a crime
Increase recycling ,
By-law enforcement
Some challenges, solutions and opportunities

9. Source separation as a key to increased recycling
Increased Employment
Increased Recycling
Job
creation
Source Separation

10. References
DEA (Department of Environmental Affairs) (2012). National Waste Information Baseline Report. Department of Environmental Affairs. Pretoria, South Africa. GDARD (Gauteng Department of Agriculture) (2010). Gauteng General Waste Minimisation Plan. Johannesburg, South Africa. GWIS (Gauteng Waste Information System). Available at GPG (Gauteng Provincial Government) (2015). State of the Province Address by Gauteng Premier David Makhura on 23rd February Johannesburg. South Africa. Matsunaga, K. and Themelis N.J.(2002). Effects of affluence and population density on waste generation and disposal of municipal solid wastes, Columbia University, New York, USA. Shaw R. P. (1989) Rapid Population Growth and Environmental Degradation: Ultimate versus Proximate Factors. Environmental Conservation,16: Stats SA 2014 – Statistics South Africa Mid year population estimates Available at accessed on 22 March 2015.

11. Thank You