Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork
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Chapter 3: The politics of wastewastes and, according to a DEAT policy paper, “establishing and maintaining controlsover <strong>the</strong> waste input” is <strong>the</strong>refore critical [DEAT 2008: 46]. The DEAT assured <strong>the</strong>committee that both waste inputs and emissions would be controlled through <strong>the</strong>licensing process. The implication, however, goes beyond individual plants to <strong>the</strong>rigorous management of <strong>the</strong> broader waste stream. Given <strong>the</strong> state of waste information,this seems improbable. Moreover, <strong>the</strong> Bill allows incineration of municipal waste –Ekhuruleni has recently proposed a municipal incinerator with ‘energy recovery’ – andit is difficult to see inputs from this chaotic waste stream being controlled.It should be noted that <strong>the</strong> Waste Bill is not founded on BAT or BEP, but on ‘bestpracticable environmental option’. The difference is that BAT is not in principlecompromised by costs, whereas BPEO is.The DEAT also argued <strong>the</strong> benefits of energy recovery, particularly in <strong>the</strong> context of<strong>the</strong> electricity crisis, and said this supported <strong>the</strong> waste hierarchy. Energy recovery is infact a new addition to <strong>the</strong> waste hierarchy and placed above disposal. It thus elevateswaste-to-energy incinerators above disposal but puts it below recycling which is whereindustry would have it.The DEAT claimed it has <strong>the</strong> capacity to regulate incineration to <strong>the</strong> very demandingstandards indicated by <strong>the</strong> policy papers. The portfolio committee remained sceptical,however, and finally demanded parliamentary oversight of “any regulation whichpertains to <strong>the</strong> treatment of waste by means of incineration” [s. 69].Toxic tradingFollowing Basel – but not <strong>the</strong> ‘Basel ban’ – <strong>the</strong> Bill regulates waste trading in orderto allow it. All waste management activities must be licensed and <strong>the</strong> minister is <strong>the</strong>licensing authority for activities subject to international obligations, “including <strong>the</strong>importation or exportation of hazardous waste” [s. 43]. The minister may also imposespecific conditions on trading priority wastes, which could include prohibiting importsand / or exports [s. 15]. Finally, <strong>the</strong> minister ‘may’ make regulations controlling “<strong>the</strong>import or export of waste”, whe<strong>the</strong>r hazardous or general [s. 69].The Bill does not preclude South Africa signing <strong>the</strong> Basel ban amendment, whichwould change its international obligations, but indicates that <strong>the</strong>re is no intentionof doing so. Ra<strong>the</strong>r, it allows <strong>the</strong> minister to decide on a case-by-case basis and <strong>the</strong><strong>Wasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Nation</strong> - groundWork - 75 -