The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) plans to assist municipalities in providing waste receptacles for recycling to households as part of its National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS).

The NWMS advocates for separation at source and aims to promote waste reduction, reusing, recycling and recovery of waste. It also intends that all metropolitan municipalities, secondary cities and large towns should establish separation at source by 2016.

The DEA has issued an expression of interest for companies to supply a three-bin recycling system, which would be distributed to households. The bins should be separate or separable to allow for individual units to move independently and have different colours to distinguish between wastes, or have the same colour with different lid colours.

Further, the DEA specified that each bin should have a 50 ℓ capacity and must be robust and sturdy to withstand knocks and rough treatment. The bins must also be stable and unlikely to topple over, while it must be lightweight and easy to move on wheels.

DEA spokesperson Albi Modise told Engineering News Online that local procurement for the materials would play a role, as all procurement processes undertaken by government follow the Public Finance Management Act and the procurement process of the Department would be followed.

“We are also looking at locally based companies that can supply the required bins as the specifications stated,” he noted.

Modise concluded that the DEA was looking for funding streams for the supply of these bins, from local and international investors.