Turning waste into wealth - SA’s ESG roadmap for 2025

Kate Stubbs, Marketing Director at Interwaste

As a country, there is no doubt we are facing a magnitude of issues that border on human rights violation - from poor waste management to the inability to meet and manage effective supply of basic needs including water and electricity and there is no doubt that urgent intervention must be considered in order to start the journey back to restoration. Priority must be taken by business and government if we hope to see a turn around.

Painting a picture

Waste conundrum

According to research, South Africans generate roughly 122 million tonnes of waste per year, equating to roughly two tonnes per person per year. A maximum of 10% of this is recycled or recovered for other uses, meaning at least 90% ends up in landfills or illegal dump sites.

Landfill sites are reaching capacity and most municipalities have not been able to commission new ones. With stringent environmental impact assessment regulations and waste licensing, it can take up to five years to approve a new landfill site, and, on average, another year to construct it.

We need to drastically change South Africa’s waste system, invest in alternative waste processing infrastructure and solutions to support a transition to a more circular economy, where materials are reused for as long as possible

The water challenge

The National Water and Sanitation Master plan outlines that the demand for water will exceed the available supply by between 1,6 billion and 2,7 billion cubic meters by 2030. This, coupled with the fact that 7 of the 13 major water systems in South Africa are predicted to be in deficit by 2040, means that as a country we are in dire need of a sustainable water resource recovery and management plan and urgent action must be taken.

Furthermore, more than two thirds (67.6%) of all wastewater treatment works are close to failure. On top of this, it showed that over 47% of all clean and treated water was lost through leaks, or could not be accounted for.

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The national Blue Drop Risk Rating also showed, the overall risk had dropped from 52.3% in 2022 to 47.15% in 2023 after some water supply systems made improvements and improved their risk category from critical or high to medium or low risk.

However, to achieve Blue Drop certification, water supply systems must meet 95% of the criteria for delivering clean, drinkable water - and only 26 of South Africa’s 958 water supply systems managed this.

The ESG Roadmap

Sustainability has become the watchword for South African corporates, as they grapple with both the public’s demand for environmentally friendly products and the demands of environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting. The combination of the above is helping to drive a culture change across society, leading waste producers and waste managers to work together to identify innovations that address key waste issues, while meeting changing legislative demands.

• Circular economy integration: We need to shift from the traditional linear production process - the take-make-dispose model - towards one that aims to reduce all unnecessary waste materials, reduce the consumption of energy and raw materials and, where there is excess, to feed this back into the cycle.

  This is the definition of the ‘Circular Economy’ model, where waste created in one industry is re-purposed for use in other areas of industry and the economy, and where disposal is the final option, rather than the immediate go-to.

  This merely means looking deeper than the obvious solutions and finding ways to unilaterally work together to ensure such solutions become viable and cost effective, and to ensure that we drive an understanding in communities as to the vital importance of such innovations in meeting South Africa’s challenges and being part of the change.

  Not only does proper waste management ensure that we can reuse and repurpose the growing mound of waste, but it ensures that where waste cannot be repurposed/recycled, it can be - as a last resort – sent to an engineered, compliant landfill.

• Data driven solutions: While South Africa continues to battle infrastructure challenges, the consideration of AI-based intelligent waste containers with sensors or leak sensors can play a vital role in the process of waste collection and water management.
  The technology can provide real-time data on waste needed to be collected or identify any infrastructure damage or leaks for optimised system performance.

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• Legislative framework: South Africa has a relatively new waste legislative framework consisting of various regulations, Acts and strategies focused on guiding and shifting the country to implement and operate more sustainable waste management practices and solutions.

  One of the most prominent Acts is the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008 and the National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) 2020. In line with the intention to divert waste from landfill and transition to a circular economy, South Africa has had a voluntary EPR scheme in place since the early 2000s, with material organisations for different material types eg. the PET Recycling Company (Petco) was established in 2004 focused on the collection and recycling of PET beverage bottles. Over time, other organisations were formed such as Polyolefin Responsibility Organisation (Polyco) NPC and Polystyrene Association (PSA).

  The final EPR regulations for South Africa were published by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) on 5 May 2021. Key pillars of the framework are waste minimisation, the promotion of recycling and transparent reporting.

  These pillars ultimately support environmental preservation through decreasing landfill waste and conserving natural resources through re-designing for environmental sustainability and preserving the value of materials to keep them in the economy and stimulate economic growth and innovation through new business opportunities, job creation and product designs.

  However, formulating an implementation model for EPR in South Africa requires a context specific strategy, which considers factors such as informal waste pickers, diverse recycling infrastructure and socio-economic conditions into account. Therefore, adaptive and tailored solutions, which strike a balance between economic viability and environmental sustainability, are going to be key to the success of EPR in South Africa.

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Sustainable development goals

Without a doubt, the waste sector plays a fundamental role in meeting the country’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), tackling not one, but at least 6 of the 15 goals in total. Goals 6 (safe water), 7 (clean energy), 13 (climate action) and 11 (sustainable cities) being the most prominent in this regard.

In fact, the waste sector is an integral part of these goals – where, taking the circular economy thinking into account where waste reuse and repurposing is fundamental to not only meeting these objectives but very importantly, is central to addressing environmental impact and growing ESG targets globally.

Practical education, solutions are key

However, we have a conundrum where business, community and at some levels of government - are underinformed about the potential of well-managed, compliant, and innovative waste management solutions.

The reality, though, is that with a population of 61 million people and growing by around 1% a year, and with each person generating around 2kgs of waste per day, we are heading towards a waste disaster if we don’t start creating solutions and ensuring that all parties are educated as to why effective waste management is so important.

This reiterates the importance of not only alternative solutions to meeting South Africa’s challenges but indicates the fundamental role of effective, ethical and compliant waste management practices in driving South Africa’s climate agenda.