Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 3: The politics of wasteis now proposing a 270 MegaWatt plant, which may be expanded to 540 MW, as partof Eskom’s co-generation programme. It is to be fuelled by discard coal, biomass “andother fuel sources”, according to Business Report. 47In 2002, groundWork caught wind of the first proposals to burn waste in cement kilnsin South Africa. Natal Portland Cement (NPC) proposed burning hazardous wasteat its Port Shepstone plant. In a curious twist following the struggle over Danida’splans in Mozambique, the provincial Department of Agricultural and EnvironmentalAffairs itself suggested that NPC consider ‘disposing’ obsolete pesticides in the plant.Next followed proposals from Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) to burn old tyres andfrom Holcim to burn ‘alternative fuels’ – the usual industry euphemism for waste. [SeeChapter 4 for a description of the cement industry.]The local industry’s push to burn waste followed a global push led by the big transnationalcorporations including Holcim. This coincided with international negotiations tocontrol the production, use and disposal of ‘persistent organic pollutants’ (POPs)including dioxins and furans emitted from incineration [see Box 11]. The StockholmConvention on POPs was agreed in 2001 and came into force in 2004. South Africaratified the agreement in 2002. A year later, government was authorising ‘trial burns’at NPC. In 2005, at the first ‘conference of the parties’ to the Stockholm Convention,African NGOs expressed concerns that, if South Africa permitted waste burning incement kilns, other African countries would follow that lead. The Deputy Ministerfor Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, then told groundWork and Earthlifethat government would never permit cement makers to burn hazardous wastes. Shortlythereafter, the North West provincial authority did indeed refuse Holcim’s proposalto burn unspecified wastes. Four months later, in March 2006, Holcim submittedan almost identical proposal to burn waste at its plant in the small Northern Capetown of Ulco. The Northern Cape promptly granted permission. On a field trip,groundWork found that local people in Ulco, the unions organised at the plant andthe local municipal council had not been consulted in the EIA process and knew nextto nothing of the proposal. groundWork also wrote to the Deputy Minister objectingto the decision and calling for a moratorium on cement kiln incineration. It receivedno response.Cement kilns are scattered across the country in small and big towns. Ulco is typicalof a number of small company towns wholly dependent on the cement corporation.47 Justin Brown, Waste matter can generate 540MW near Richards Bay, Business Report, August 26, 2008.- 66 - groundWork - Wasting the Nation