Photo: Pieter Cloete/Maroela Media
The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) submitted a response to the draft national waste management strategy and calls for the framework to be scrapped and revised.
According to Redisa, the strategy is incoherent, contains factual errors and offers no workable financing model.
“Important targets have simply been transferred or even reduced from 2020’s strategy,” says Redisa.
Hermann Erdmann, CEO of Redisa, says the concept does not take waste management seriously.
According to the South African Waste Information System, in 2022 the Western Cape created a total of 526 033 tonnes of health waste and in 2023 it recorded 1 824 551 tonnes. By comparison, the United Kingdom’s entire national health system generates around 156,000 tonnes.
“Redisa appeals to Willie Aucamp, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, to fix our country’s broken waste management system.”
Redisa particularly questions the reliability of data on which the current strategy is based. According to the organization, entries in the South African Waste Information System (SAWIS) contain “made-up data sets” that fail basic reasonableness tests.
In South Africa, 1.2 million tonnes of waste paper are collected annually and around 90% of that is recycled locally into new paper, packaging and tissue paper. (Photo: Pamsa/Facebook)
Furthermore, recycling figures for plastic and glass are labeled as misleading.
According to Redisa, the claimed plastic recycling rate of 43.7% only represents plastic that is already available for recycling. However, according to the accepted definition, this figure drops to 17.5%. The recorded glass recycling rate of 71.2% includes recyclable bottles.
“It’s like counting a rental car as recycling every time it’s rented out,” says Redisa.
An analysis of the 2020 strategy shows that only three of 69 targets regarding waste management have produced positive outcomes, while 56 have produced little or no progress.
The organization advocates a clear model for environmental levies and extended producer responsibility and points to its own successful tire management model as evidence that a circular economy can promote economic growth and job creation.
Poor references and inconsistent page numbers are just some of the mistakes that seriously undermine the document’s authority.
According to Redisa, so-called extended producer responsibility (EPR models) can offer a good solution for waste management in South Africa. It can tackle environmental degradation and public health problems, while creating jobs.
From 2013 to 2017, Redisa developed an EPR model that transformed the management of car tires in South Africa. It established 22 tire collection centers, employed more than 3,000 people, created 226 small waste businesses and reduced 59,000 tons of carbon emissions.