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This submission outlines challenges and suggested amendments to the Waste Management Act, focusing on waste definitions, RRR processes, and by-products. It advocates for parliamentary intervention to address implementation hurdles.
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National Management Waste Strategy BUSA submission to Parliamentary Portfolio Committee 1 June 2012
Scope of presentation • Focus on amendments to Act • Challenges with definitions • Challenges with implementation of Part 8 of the Act: contaminated land
Definition • Challenges with definition resulted in DEA providing an interpretation • Challenges are exacerbated by the interpretation in some areas • Provincial authorities do not accept the interpretation • Parliamentary intervention required to amend Act
Challenges "waste" means any substance, [whether or not that substance can be reduced, re-used, recycled and recovered]- • that is surplus, unwanted, rejected, discarded, abandoned or disposed of; • which the generator has no further use of for the purposes of production; • that must be treated or disposed of
Challenges: waste • (ii) any portion of waste, once re-used, recycled and recovered, ceases to be waste • requires all three processes of re-use, recycling and recovery to be applied before material ceases to be waste • DEA interpretation: “and” = “or”
Challenges: by-product by-product; means “a substance that is produced as part of a process that is primarily intended to produce another substance or product DEA interpretation: • By product is normally understood only to be a substance produced during the making of something else. and that has the characteristics of an equivalent virgin product or material”; DEA interpretation: • “The substance must demonstrate the equivalent chemical and physical characteristics of an equivalent virgin product or material.” and “the substance or object can be used directly without further processing.”
Challenges: recovery • “Recovery” means the controlled extraction of a material or the retrieval of energy to produce a product • Examples: • Fly ash: sieving • Coarse ash: crushing and sieving • Recovering energy from waste with calorific value
Challenges: re-use • “Re-use” means to utilize articles from the waste stream for a similar or different purpose without changing the form or properties • Examples: Biosludge for • Ash heap stabilisation • Dust suppression
Challenges: recycling • “Recycling” means a process where waste is reclaimed for further use, which process means separation of waste from a waste stream for further use ans processing the separated material to produce a product • Examples: • Spent catalysts for recycling valuable metals • Packaging materials • Stabilisation material in remediation
Request • "waste" means any substance, whether or not that substance can be reduced, re-used, recycled or recovered or treated - • (a) forwhich there is no further use • (b) that must be disposed of; or • (c) that is identified as a waste by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, and includes waste generated by the mining, medical or other sector, but- • (i) a by-product is not considered waste; and • (ii) any portion of waste, once re-used, recycled or recovered, ceases to be waste;
Request (2) • "by-product" means a substance that is produced as part of a process that is primarily intended to produce another product • Review terms: “re-use; recycling, recovery
Contaminated land Act requires a stepwise approach: Identify investigation area Notify land owner Require site assessment ( risk assessment) Consider site assessment report Require remediation, no action, other measures Regulations do not follow this approach
Conclusions • Review definitions of waste, RRR and by product • Review Part 8 with a view to amendment • Willing to make a detailed submission in this regard • Supported by examples
