The Waste Bill and Zero Waste

1. The Waste Bill and Zero Waste Zero Waste is not a target! Submission Number E Zini Mokhine The GreenHouse Project 0117203773 084662600

2. What is Zero Waste? It is a process the goal of which is to: • Prevent waste generation at production (upstream) and right throughout the supply chain to the end user (downstream). • Recreate a society like there used to be 20 – 30 years ago: a society free from high volumes of waste generation and adverse impacts of exposure to toxic synthetic chemicals. • Restore the sustainable use of limited natural resources (thereby bringing the balance between resource availability and use). • Reduce waste generation by redesigning production processes and products that are reusable, recyclable and/or compostible.

3. Rewind to 25 – 30 years ago • People took bags or baskets with to shop. • Paper and not disposable plastic was the wrapping/packaging material. • Waste generation and litter on the scale now generated was unthought of. • Repair, reuse and composting were the norm in communities.

4. Upstream - provisions of the bill The current challenge of waste in SA is also an opportunity to create a “clean, safe and healthy environment” providing the bill enforces the phasing in of: • Life cycle assessment of products • Clean production • Full cost accounting • Producer responsibility, and • Polluter pays principle

5. In addition . . . The bill also needs to: • Support the decentralisation of waste management services to communities. • Support partnerships between communities and current waste management agents, where agents; - Provide administrative support - Recycling facilities, and - Oversight of facilities and operations • Compel producers to display the recyclability and/or compostibility of the package/container. • Support public education and consumer awareness. • Allude to the 2001 Polokwane Declaration

6. Downstream – Community Oriented Zero Waste Initiatives Without the provisions above SA will miss the opportunity to: • Phase-in source separation to reduce waste generation. • Reduce the loss of limited resources to waste. • Reduce the further contamination of land and pollution of air and water. • Grow local reuse, recycling and composting markets. • Green the 2010 Soccer World Cup while rallying support for waste reduction. • Create jobs and reduce the ecological foot-print resulting from our throw away and consumerist culture.

7. Costs • In 2002 SA was generating between 532 and 566 million tons of waste a year (draft IWMS CoJ) • Waste disposal costs R85.00 per ton (Waste management agent – CoJ) • Litter cost the City of Johannesburg R25 million for the year 2002 and, • Has led to the pollution and loss of aquatic life in major rivers from run-off

8. Who pays for these costs? • The government and the public. • The public pays: - tax - service charges for waste collection - health costs when they are sick - for the loss of livelihoods • The government subsidises health costs, remediation and pays social grants (for chronically ill people).

9. Conclusion • Landfilling leads to loss of limited natural and financial resources, and the contamination of precious land. • Incineration transforms solid materials into gases and particulates, and dumps these in the air and, animal and plant tissue. • With our constitution reputed to be the best, SA needs this bill to reinforce constitutional provisions.

11. Incineration slide (Zini) Incineration of waste takes a single waste streams and creates additional > concentrated hazardous waste streams e.g. gaseous, particles & ultra fine particles, and concentrated waste ash which all need to be managed in an ES manner anyway e.g. disposal to hazardous LF or very expensive end of pipe AQ emissions devices etc. Evidence that incineration gives rise to new chemical potentially toxic compounds Increasingly medical literature refers to the importance of ultra fine particles as having greatest impact on health in SA we are only focussing on PM10 never mind PM2.5 and ultra fine particles e.g. nanoparticles Nanoparticles thought to have especially negative impact on health because they penetrate deeper into biological systems