Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 2: Rubbish FiguresThese figures are highly dubious. Emissions from Sasol Synfuels alone are more thandouble <strong>the</strong> ‘waste in air’ figure. 13 But <strong>the</strong> point here is that subsequent representationsimply that <strong>the</strong> totals are for disposable solid and liquid wastes, not for total wastes toair, water and land. Again, it is not merely that <strong>the</strong> figures are questionable, but that<strong>the</strong>y are not understood.In one sense, CSIR 1992 attempted to create an official language of waste: a commonset of terms and assumptions so that officials, consultants and waste managers wouldall know what <strong>the</strong>y were talking about even if <strong>the</strong> figures were disputed. The DWAF’sminimum requirements extended this language to corporate and local governmentwaste managers. In principle, managers should know how to classify <strong>the</strong>ir wastesand what forms of treatment or disposal are required by regulation. For any nationalaccounting or management of waste, however, <strong>the</strong> language has broken down. Thefigures are now meaningless and, at a certain level, <strong>the</strong> state does not know what it’stalking about.The figures never<strong>the</strong>less reinforce <strong>the</strong> illusion created in <strong>the</strong> phrase ‘waste management’.The first national State of <strong>the</strong> Environment Report in 1999 estimated that only 5% ofhazardous waste “was disposed of at permitted hazardous waste disposal sites” [DEAT2008]. Of course, this estimate is as doubtful as anything else said about waste. It isnever<strong>the</strong>less apparent that South Africa produces a very large and growing quantity ofhazardous waste and very little is coherently managed.General wasteGeneral waste presents as deep a mystery – as is indicated by <strong>the</strong> wide spread of figuresin Table 1 from 8 to 20 mt/y. It includes all waste from households, shops and offices– known as ‘domestic and trade waste’ – which, if collected, is headed for municipaldumps. While it is regarded as non-hazardous, it in fact contains many hazardoussubstances such as old batteries, paint and solvents. ‘De-listed’ hazardous waste canalso be dumped at general waste sites. ‘De-listing’ is <strong>the</strong> bureaucratic re-classificationof hazardous waste which is supposed to follow from treating it or diluting it to <strong>the</strong>extent that <strong>the</strong> risk is deemed acceptable. In practice, it is suspected that much wasteis de-listed without being treated simply to allow it to be dumped. Because <strong>the</strong>se toxicelements are mixed in and decompose with o<strong>the</strong>r wastes, much of <strong>the</strong> waste body endsup being more or less toxic.13 This excludes carbon dioxide emissions which were not counted in CSIR 1992.<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 27 -