Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 3: The politics of wastewastes and, according to a DEAT policy paper, “establishing and maintaining controlsover the waste input” is therefore critical [DEAT 2008: 46]. The DEAT assured thecommittee that both waste inputs and emissions would be controlled through thelicensing process. The implication, however, goes beyond individual plants to therigorous management of the broader waste stream. Given the state of waste information,this seems improbable. Moreover, the 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 the 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 the benefits of energy recovery, particularly in the context ofthe electricity crisis, and said this supported the waste hierarchy. Energy recovery is infact a new addition to the 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 the capacity to regulate incineration to the very demandingstandards indicated by the policy papers. The portfolio committee remained sceptical,however, and finally demanded parliamentary oversight of “any regulation whichpertains to the treatment of waste by means of incineration” [s. 69].Toxic tradingFollowing Basel – but not the ‘Basel ban’ – the Bill regulates waste trading in orderto allow it. All waste management activities must be licensed and the minister is thelicensing authority for activities subject to international obligations, “including theimportation 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, the minister ‘may’ make regulations controlling “theimport or export of waste”, whether hazardous or general [s. 69].The Bill does not preclude South Africa signing the Basel ban amendment, whichwould change its international obligations, but indicates that there is no intentionof doing so. Rather, it allows the minister to decide on a case-by-case basis and theWasting the Nation - groundWork - 75 -