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Polity
Article by: Tracy Hancock
Published: 04 Jun 2010
New waste Act must be embraced to bring about change
Multidisciplinary sustainability advisory Capital 5 Sustainability Strategies executive director Francois Joubert says that the poor state of South Africa's wastewater treatment plants cannot only be attributed to the failure of local government.

He says that there are other factors that have contributed to the current state of the facilities and that the National Environmental Management: Waste Act (NEMWA) No 59, of 2008, must be fully adopted if change is to be expected; although there are municipalities that are still not aware that the Act has come into effect.

"The Act must be embraced to achieve its full potential. Only when norms and standards have been agreed and the waste management system has been put in place by all spheres of government will change be seen," says Joubert, who was one of the first lawyers in South Africa to complete a master's degree in environmental management at the then Rand Afrikaans University, now known as the University of Johannesburg.

In May, the Department of Water Affairs ‘Green Drop' report 
revealed that of the 449 treatment plants assessed out of about 852 
municipal wastewater systems, 7% were classified as excellently 
managed, while 38% of the systems performed within acceptable standards.

Joubert believes that the neglect of South Africa's wastewater treatment plants has to be looked at from a historic perspective. In the past, there were far fewer users of the sewerage system. Through the equitable distribution of basic services, such as sanitation, systems were placed under pressure and not equipped to deal with the rapid increase of users.

"Local government bodies that are tasked with dealing with the regulation of wastewater treatment do not have the capacity to deal with it adequately. This has resulted in the creation of programmes that assess the exact status of the country's wastewater treatment works. It has been a long time since these facilities have been adequately assessed," he adds.

Further, he says that in the past, South Africa's water resources did not have to face challenges such as acid mine drainage and polluted waters that place added stress on the system and naturally have an impact on its performance and the environment.
However, Joubert says that the NEMWA has a much more structured approach to waste management, as it is a framework legislation that provides the basis for the regulation of waste management.
"The detailed regulation of different types of wastes requires specific regulatory approaches to ensure that waste is optimally managed from an environmental perspective. A one-size-fits-all approach frequently results in unintended consequences or undue regulatory burdens without necessarily achieving the environmental aim," he explains.
Joubert claims that, because the regulatory framework used in the past had such a scattered approach, the NEMWA enhances a legislative paradigm, which includes international best practice that explains how to deal with waste management in a country such as South Africa. This approach underpins the principles of sustainable development clearly and on a practical level. All spheres of government are clearly mandated to fulfil their constitutional mandates.

Other challenges associated with waste in South Africa include: the contamination of soil and water by hazardous waste, waste disposal on river banks polluting and changing the course of rivers, the creation of open dump disposal areas threatening bordering residents, the general burning of waste causing air pollution and unauthorised waste processing involving hazardous substances.

Biodiversity Trade-off Models

Meanwhile, in an attempt to compensate for the residual, unavoidable harm to biodiversity as a result of development projects, biodiversity trade-off models are being implemented.

"Currently, the need for biodiversity offsets must be identified, and potential offsets must be investigated and evaluated during the environmental impact-assessment and decision-making process for proposed development," adds Joubert.

Although, on a national level, there are formal templates relating to biodiversity trade-off models, some provinces such as the Western Cape developed a proposed biodiversity offset system on an area-based compensation model, he says. However, in some instances, monetary compensation is also considered where appropriate.

Joubert explains: "Monetary compensation may comprise contributions to an accredited biodiversity conservation trust for the purpose of acquiring and managing a priority habitat for biodiversity. This could also include providing funds to expand or manage public protected areas."

However, he says that to determine whether a proposed offset will effectively compensate for the residual biodiversity impacts of a specific proposed development, the actual biodiversity loss to be caused and the significance of this loss must be estimated.

It is therefore necessary to look at the offset model from a perspective that does not only include biodiversity issues but also socio-economic principles.

In order to enhance the traditional biodiversity model, Joubert feels that companies must also consider implementing practical socio-economic and environmental management trade-off models where such companies need to provide an appropriate socio-economic and environmental trade-off solution in order to obtain its license to operate, especially concerning green-fields projects.

In this approach companies should focus on government's main priorities, goals and aims in respect of its international and national trade and other multilateral agreement obligations, especially as it relates to social and economic upliftment policies, coupled with sound environmental management principles. These include the Millennium Development Goals, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, the Republic of South Africa Planning Commission goals and international financiers criteria such as the Equator Principles. This will assist South African and foreign direct investors to develop practical and viable business case for sustainable development when they are considering business opportunities in South Africa.