Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 3: The politics of wasteLivaningo has since re-formed as Justicia Ambiental and remains at <strong>the</strong> centre ofMozambique’s environmental debate as well as <strong>the</strong> network of sou<strong>the</strong>rn Africanenvironmental justice organisations.In South Africa, over 300 incinerators were operating by 1997. Most are used formedical waste but some are operating on industrial sites. Most have no emissionscontrols whatever and operate with minimal regulatory oversight. On <strong>the</strong> DEAT’s ownaccount, “many … failed to comply with <strong>the</strong> required emission standards for humanhealth and environmental protection” [DEAT 2006: 254]. However, <strong>the</strong> departmenttook action only when pressured to do so. The Aloes incinerator was temporarilyclosed in 1998. In south Durban, <strong>the</strong> department ordered EnviroServ to close itsIsipingo incinerator following repeated demands from SDCEA and a groundWorkinvestigation that showed it had been allowed to transgress its permit conditionsfor years. The DEAT noted that <strong>the</strong> corporation had consistently showed “a lack ofcommitment” to compliance with environmental and health standards. 45At Ixopo, <strong>the</strong> largest medical waste incinerator in <strong>the</strong> country was exemplary of a badlyrun plant. It was owned by <strong>the</strong> local municipality and operated by Compass Wasteunder a permit from <strong>the</strong> DEAT. It burnt a mix of local municipal waste and medicalwaste brought in by Compass from across <strong>the</strong> province of KwaZulu-Natal. For <strong>the</strong>most part, <strong>the</strong> municipality failed to deliver its share of waste but escaped penaltiesbecause Compass had ever more medical waste to burn more profitably.Combustion was so ‘incomplete’ that identifiable items of medical waste were visiblein <strong>the</strong> bottom ash which was itself illegally dumped in a hole on site. Black smokewas regularly emitted from <strong>the</strong> chimney along with half-burned paper. The door to<strong>the</strong> burn chamber was left open so that a worker could stir <strong>the</strong> burning waste with apoker. The plant itself was in such disrepair that bits were falling down. Meanwhile,<strong>the</strong> municipality was using adjacent land for new housing and a shack settlement wasalso expanding next to <strong>the</strong> plant.Starting in 1999, groundWork fought for six years to get <strong>the</strong> authorities to enforce<strong>the</strong> conditions imposed in <strong>the</strong>ir own permit or close <strong>the</strong> plant. In 2002, it took <strong>the</strong>municipality, Compass and <strong>the</strong> DEAT to court. The court ordered an ‘appeals hearing’which <strong>the</strong> DEAT failed to act on. In <strong>the</strong> next three years, <strong>the</strong> municipality and Compass45 Quoted in KZN incinerator closed down, groundWork Newsletter, Vol.2, No.3, September 2000.<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 63 -