Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 3: The politics of wasteFor law makers, <strong>the</strong> volatility and vagaries of <strong>the</strong> market pose <strong>the</strong> problem of unintendedconsequences: on <strong>the</strong> one hand, re-use may be penalised if something is defined aswaste while, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong> claim that something is re-usable may be used to evaderegulation. The Bill broadly adopts <strong>the</strong> market definition but with some qualifications:<strong>the</strong> minister may declare something to be waste, and recyclables are waste until <strong>the</strong>yare recycled.The Waste HierarchyThe Bill invokes <strong>the</strong> waste hierarchy in <strong>the</strong> preamble and <strong>the</strong> objectives but in factinverts it. This is signalled by <strong>the</strong> ‘mays’ and ‘musts’. Thus, <strong>the</strong> minister ‘must’ setnorms and standards for waste storage, treatment and disposal but ‘may’ set <strong>the</strong>m forminimisation, re-use, recycling and recovery of waste. This sets <strong>the</strong> pattern for <strong>the</strong>document as a whole and it is notable that minimisation tends to disappear when <strong>the</strong>Bill addresses municipal waste management.Zero waste, advocated by civil society, is <strong>the</strong> most comprehensive approach to wasteavoidance. DEAT evidently regards it as unrealistic. In fact, it anticipates a growing floodof waste with avoidance, minimisation and recycling mitigating <strong>the</strong> rate of increase.This view accepts <strong>the</strong> production system as it is and, indeed, a transition to zero wastewould require government as a whole to commit to economic transformation. Asremarked earlier, avoidance and minimisation are located primarily in <strong>the</strong> productionsystem where DEAT and waste managers have little purchase. As DEAT official JoanneYawich told <strong>the</strong> parliamentary portfolio committee, “The bottom line [is] that SouthAfrica [is] a country in need of economic growth and development. DEAT [is] thustrying to manage <strong>the</strong> negative effects of dealing with waste.” 53Practical regulations which <strong>the</strong> minister ‘may’ introduce include <strong>the</strong> declaration ofpriority wastes and extended producer responsibility. The minister may also requireparticular persons to reduce, re-use, recycle or recover product components and/or toinclude a percentage of recycled material in products. In all cases, <strong>the</strong> minister mustconsult with Trade and Industry. If government as a whole were serious about it, thisis indeed where waste prevention and minimisation should belong. However, DTI’sindustrial strategy barely mentions <strong>the</strong> environment while <strong>the</strong> trade side generally seesenvironmental regulation as a barrier to trade.53 Parliamentary Monitoring Group, Meeting report on discussion on incineration March 4, 2008, at http://www.pmg.org.za<strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 73 -