

Chapter 11



WASTE MANAGEMENT

The present situation

South Africa produces a lot of waste. We have a lot of mines that produce waste. We also allow industries to use a lot of natural resources and to produce a lot of waste. The laws and systems to stop pollution and to control waste are very weak.

Recently, people have started to worry about the problem of waste. The case of Thor Chemicals in Natal helped to make people worry about this issue. Thor Chemicals was importing poisonous waste from other countries. This waste was damaging worker health and the environment.

Modern society produces a lot of different kinds of waste. Some of it goes into the air. Some goes into water. And some is stored on land. Some waste is sold to or bought from other countries. Air pollution and water pollution can move across borders between countries.

Industry produces a lot of waste. This waste can be gas, liquid or solid. Some wastes are more dangerous to health than others. Where there are a lot of industries close together the amount of waste produced can be very dangerous to health if it is not dealt with properly.

Cars, trucks and buses cause a lot of air pollution. Many farms use a lot of chemicals (fertilizer, pesticides, etc.). These can pollute rivers, dams, and water under the ground. There is a lot of waste from households. This includes sewage, and solid waste ranging from vegetable peels to plastic packets. Burning coal and wood for cooking or heating the house also causes pollution inside the house and outside.

In 1991 and 1992 the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) published two reports. The first report looked at waste management and pollution control in general. The second one looked at hazardous waste. These reports say that South Africa produces between 340 and 480 million tons of solid waste every year. We produce about 1.9 million tons of hazardous waste every year. Hazardous waste must be treated very carefully because it is dangerous. There are special laws to say how it must be dealt with.

TABLE 11.1:
 Solid waste sources and amounts

Source	Amount (in million tons each year)
Waste from mines 	240 - 380
Coal ash from power stations	20
Chemical, metals, manufacturing industries  	20
Urban (municipal) waste 	15
Other	45
TOTAL	340 - 480

About 147 million tons of waste goes into the air every year, either as gas or smoke. About 1.2 million tons of liquid waste goes into rivers and the sea every year.

There are a lot of mines and power stations in the Eastern Transvaal. These cause a lot of air pollution. In other places, such as Merebank, in Natal, there are also a lot of industries close together. It is usually poorer people who live close to dirty factories. Their health suffers because they live close to these factories. Since 1965 some areas in cities have been made 'smoke free zones'. The air pollution in these areas has got less. But these 'smoke free zones' are only in white areas.

The black townships usually have a lot of air pollution. Rubbish removal services don't work properly. Many poor people in townships do not seem to be interested in cleaning up their areas. They do not seem to understand the problems with leaving rubbish in the street. This is true in rural areas and towns.

Many people in townships and rural areas use coal and wood to cook and to heat the house. Often their houses do not have proper chimneys. The smoke from the wood and coal causes pollution inside and outside the house.

White South Africans tend to buy a lot of things. This is particularly true of richer people. These things are often wrapped in plastic, or in boxes. This wrapping gets thrown away. In other countries, industries are trying to use less paper and plastic for wrapping up goods to be sold. But this has not happened in South Africa yet. In other countries industries also try to recycle materials a lot more than we do here. We also need to make things that last longer, and which can be repaired. This would be better than making things that we throw away when they break down. We could do a lot to cut down on how much waste we produce.

Laws and government departments

There are lots of different laws which control waste. Different departments are responsible for different kinds of pollution. (see table 11.2).

TABLE 11.2:
Which government departments are responsible for controlling waste?

Type of waste or pollution	Government department
1. Air pollution 	Environment Affairs and Tourism
2. Household and non-hazardous industrial waste      	Local Government
3. Hazardous waste dumps    	Water Affairs and Forestry
4. Transport of hazardous substances 	      National Health and Population Development

5. Soil quality  (including use  of pesticides)       	Agriculture
6. Pollution of the sea     	Environment Affairs (cleaning up pollution);
           Transport (preventing pollution and taking people to court).
7. Radioactive fuel cycle     	Council for Nuclear Safety
8. Other radioactive materials     	National Health and Population Development
9. Water pollution      	 Water Affairs and Forestry National Health and Population Development
10. Mining waste Affairs   	 Mineral and Energy
11. Noise pollution     	 Local government
12. Occupational health and workplace safety   	  Labour
13.Waste on roads    	  Provincial administrations

The splitting up of waste management between so many departments is not good. One factory has to obey a lot of different laws and report to lots of different departments. This is difficult for them and for the government. Each department has inspectors who only look at one particular thing. Like air pollution. Or noise. Or occupational health. No one is looking at all these problems together. It would be better to be able to look at all the problems together.

There are no clear standards set for pollution. In some waste management there is not enough control. For example, there are nearly 200 landfill sites (waste dumps) in the country where solid and liquid waste is got rid of. Only a few of these are licensed. Many of them are badly managed. Some are causing water pollution. For nearly half of them there is very little information about the health, safety and environmental record.

This problem is made worse because we do not have enough inspectors. For example, there are only a few national air pollution inspectors. We need to train more inspectors. The government must make money available to train and pay these inspectors.

Thor Chemicals is a good example of these problems (see Box 9). Thor Chemicals was working with poisonous chemicals. They were dealing with a lot of different government departments. The problems at Thor Chemicals were all because of the same process. But different departments made different decisions. The Department of Population and National Health issued permits for Thor to bring poisonous waste into the country. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry gave a permit for them to store the waste. And the Department of Manpower (now Labour) checked on the effect on workers' health. But these departments couldn't stop very bad damage to the environment, or to the health of workers.There are laws about getting rid of waste. But it is not clear how it is decided how much waste can be got rid of in a particular way. There is too little control over hazardous waste in particular. It also seems that the punishment for breaking the law is too little. It is cheaper for companies to pay fines for polluting than to clean up their factories.

The Department of Trade and Industry does not seem to be concerned about the effect of industry on the environment. People involved in industry must look at the bigger picture. They must also look at environmental problems from industry.

BOX 9:

 THOR CHEMICALS
RETURN TO SENDER!

Thor Chemicals in Natal has three warehouses full of drums of toxic waste containing mercury. Mercury is very poisonous. The waste comes mainly from the U.S.A. Some is from Britain, some from Singapore and Indonesia. Some of the barrels are rusty and leaking. They have been stored here for up to 10 years. Outside the warehouses is a dam of 2,500 tons of sludge. This sludge is toxic waste containing mercury.

Thor Chemicals agreed with companies overseas that they buy mercury waste. They said they would re-process this waste. In the USA you are not allowed to put mercury waste on waste dumps. It is very expensive to get rid of it there.

The national Department of Health had to give a permit for the factory. They did not give Thor a permit. But Thor started testing the reprocessing anyway. They set up an incinerator. Studies in the U.S.A. have shown that it is very hard to stop mercury going out through the chimney from an incinerator. This poisonous gas stays in the air for a long time, until the rain washes it onto the ground. The ash from burning the toxic waste is also dangerous. It should be put into a toxic waste site. But it seems that someone told Thor that they could store the waste at the factory.

People are worried that the soil and water have been polluted in the area. They are also concerned that plants and animals are now polluted with mercury. To try to stop this, Thor Chemicals have dammed the Mgcweni River which runs off their premises. They are pumping the polluted water back into their property. The water then is returned to the ground.

The Attorney General of Natal has ordered more investigations into Thor Chemicals. Its three top managers have been charged with culpable homicide, fraud and 42 other offences.

What is the best thing to do? Thor Chemicals wants to burn all the waste that they have at the factory. They say that they will not bring in any more waste from outside the country. Another possibility is that all the drums and sludge be put into a toxic waste dump. A third possibility is that the waste be sent back to the countries that it came from. This would cost Thor Chemicals money and would require negotiation by the government. But there are other cases where this has been done. For example, public pressure in Germany forced the German government to pay to send back pesticide wastes to eastern Europe.

In February 1994 more toxic waste from the USA was turned back at Durban Harbour.

The government must call an independent inquiry to look into the environmental and worker health problems at Thor.

Policy issues for the government

1.  The most important issue is how to include environmental issues into our industries. In the past industries were not worried about the environment or the dangers of pollution. Often the environment was damaged. The "precautionary principle" could move industry towards looking after the environment better. Industry in other countries has saved money by cutting down on how much waste it produces. It can also save money by recycling or re-using waste.

2.  In South Africa, we have tried to control waste and pollution by saying that the air can take a certain amount of different kinds of chemicals. We say that water can take a certain amount. We say that the land can take a certain amount. But it is very difficult to decide how much pollution the air, water and land can take without being damaged.

3.  We have separate laws for pollution in air, water and land. Different government departments are responsible for these laws. But it is better to look at all the pollution and waste from one factory together. For this to work the government must put all the laws and inspectors for pollution control into one department. Otherwise they must make sure that different departments work together better.

4.  The fines for pollution are too low. Often companies do not have to pay to clean up their pollution. The "polluter-pays" principle should be introduced. This would mean that industry would pay a lot for permits to get rid of waste (into the air, water or land). They would have to pay big fines if they broke the law. They would also have to pay for the damage done to the environment by their pollution.

5.  Government departments usually use something called the "Best Practical Means" (BPM) to decide whether to give an industry a permit. They use this to decide how much waste an industry can produce. But the BPM does not look at environmental issues. It should be replaced with the "Best Practical Environmental Option" (BPEO) system. This allows government to look at environmental issues as well when giving permits.

6.  The government should find ways of encouraging industries to use cleaner ways of making their products. This will also help us to sell our products to other countries. Many other countries are worried about the environment. They don't want to buy products that were made by dirty factories.

7.  South Africa does not have a good system for controlling hazardous waste. The government must look at this as a matter of urgency.

8.  The government must decide whether South African industries should be allowed to buy hazardous waste from other countries.

9.  The government must look at the problem of nuclear waste. Nuclear waste comes from Koeberg nuclear power station. Most of it is stored at Vaalputs in the Northern Cape. Some is still kept at Koeberg.

The government must look at the laws about nuclear waste. The nuclear waste has to be looked after for a very long time. It stays dangerous for many thousands of years. The government will have to decide what to do about the nuclear waste at Vaalputs and at Koeberg.

10. The government must look at policy on household waste. Households produce wood and coal smoke, sewage and ordinary rubbish. Air pollution inside houses happens mainly in poor areas. Rubbish from houses goes onto dumps which take up a lot of land. The government must encourage people to recycle and re-use 'waste' materials.

11.  The government must find ways to encourage industry to stop producing products that are used once or twice and then thrown away. They should be encouraged to make products that last for a long time. Shoppers must be educated so that they buy environmentally friendly products and refuse to buy products that are bad for the environment.

Recommendations

1.   All the laws about waste and pollution control should be put together. One Department should be responsible for waste management and pollution control. Industry should report on all waste that they produce. This would help to control illegal dumping.

2.   The "precautionary principle" should be used in all decisions that might affect the environment.

3.  The "polluter-pays" principle should be used to help to get industry to do less damage to the environment.

4.   The government must act fast about hazardous waste. A new system must be set up to control hazardous waste from cradle-to-grave-to-cradle. This system must be part of the whole system of waste management and pollution control. Workers who handle hazardous waste need better protection.

5.   The government must look at laws and standards for controlling nuclear waste.

6.   No toxic waste should be brought into the country from other countries. The government must keep a list of all hazardous substances coming into or going out of the country.

7.  South Africa should sign the Bamako Convention. This is a convention to stop hazardous waste being brought into Africa from other countries.

8.   The government should use the Best Practical Environmental Option when giving permits to industry for pollution.

9.   The government must help industry to move towards environmentally friendly ways of making their products. The government should also help industry to make more jobs.

10. The government should make new laws about labels for products. Labels should give information about the environmental effects of making and using the product. A South African eco-labelling system could be started.

11.  The government must find ways to encourage people to produce less waste. They must encourage people to recycle their waste.

12.  The government needs more staff to control waste management and pollution. These staff need to be well-trained.

13. The public should be allowed to get information on waste and pollution.

14. The government must look at the problem of people who go to dump sites to look for food, clothes and other things. These people could get ill from doing this. Managers of waste sites should keep records of what is being dumped on the site.

15.  Provincial waste management departments should be set up. They should work with industry and local communities to control waste management.





