The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs will develop a framework for a Basic Refuse Removal Policy aimed at assisting communities that could not afford waste removal services.

Speaking at the local government indaba on environment, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said that her department intended to take the policy to Cabinet for approval before the end of the year.

"The first thing that must be understood about this policy, is that it is meant to ensure that there is a good service provided to all South Africans, especially those who are currently in unserviced areas."

She said that municipalities did not always have the necessary resources to deliver on waste removal services, acknowledging that not enough funding was directed at this function.

Sonjica further stated that the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs was currently in the process of developing a master plan, called the National Waste Management Strategy, which would act as a guideline to implement the newly established National Environmental Management Waste Act.

"We need to move away from being a throw-away society that focuses on the end-of-pipe waste management solutions that result in huge landfill sites, to one which is much more responsible and cognisant if the need to minimise waste and dispose as a last resort."

She added that the National Environmental Management Waste Act would allow the department to drive a recycling economy with the municipalities expected to be central to effective waste management. "This will further contribute to job creation potential, with emphasis on waste collection initiatives involving small, medium and macro-sized enterprises and recycling businesses."

Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs deputy Minister Yunus Carrim noted that despite the progressive nature of the Acts governing environmental policy in South Africa, the implementation of the Acts were made difficult by their complexity.

"I am told that there is a Water Quality Act and an Air Pollution Act, which is much too sophisticated for us. The values and goals behind the Acts are correct, but unless we give local government the ability to implement those Acts, and unless we have the implementation plan for the other spheres of national and provincial government, this legislation will reside in the air."

Sonjica added that she had indeed called for the climate change and environmental protection debate to be "demystified", to simplify the laws, making it possible for local governments to implement.

"One of the ways in which we can do that is to continue to help local government through workshops and trying to help them understand what the legislation requires them to do."