SOUTH AFRICA – Waste economy, especially from an environmental standpoint, has the potential to address specific socioeconomic issues, such as job creation, according to Dr. Jaisheila Rajput, the founder and CEO of ToMa Now, a green economy business consultancy.
According to her, the country has opportunities to develop the waste sector worth more than R18 billion (US$928.69m), as reported by the South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA).
However, financing and planning must take place collaboratively among key stakeholders and role players, and should not be solely reliant on extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes that are currently being developed.
Rajput reiterates that the waste sector is not only limited to municipalities or producers. There is a significant number of waste pickers – Sawpa estimates there to be more than 90,000 – that must be considered. The large informal waste sector needs to be incorporated into the sector’s future plans.
The role of waste pickers in supporting the zero-waste-to-landfill effort needs to be acknowledged, and the government should harness their support to develop the waste sector more holistically. This includes waste collection, beneficiation, product development, and innovation.
“Around 2020, we worked in Motherwell, in Gqeberha, where we supported waste recyclers in the local community with the development of an environmental hub,” says Rajput.
“The environmental hub focuses on education, recycling, and creating products from recycled materials. We supported them in developing effective business plans, including a focus on improving the collection of recyclables.
“In doing so, we realized opportunities in initiatives such as buy-back centers, which have had a significant environmental and social impact.”
EPR Impacts
EPR regulations have become mandatory in South Africa, holding producers accountable for their products and the waste they generate.
The rollout of the regulation has started in the paper and packaging, lighting, electrical, and electronic equipment industries.
The legislation also applies to products such as portable batteries, lubricants, oils, and pesticides, aiming to divert them effectively from landfills.
Rajput emphasizes that the diversion of waste through EPR regulations has the potential to create new opportunities in the sector.
She notes that, while recycling is becoming more commonplace, reuse should take precedence in driving sectors towards the circular economy, with a stronger emphasis on beneficiation, which is “the essential gateway to the circular economy.”
Moreover, while capacity building along the recycling and reuse value chain is in the early stages for some materials, it will eventually reach a point where producers design products with recyclability and their next life in mind.
The current focus is on the post-consumer stage, due to the global plastic waste crisis, according to Rajput.
“The packaging design of a pouch, for example, can be made from multilayer laminated plastic. This makes recycling difficult and is something that should be reconsidered,” she explained.
She laments that often a bottle with a shrink sleeve that protects household detergents is made using different polymers. As a result, recycling these bottles becomes more complicated due to the need for different methods to process the various polymer materials involved.
However, the polymers used in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles can be recycled and transformed into polyester fibers, which are then utilized in the textile industry. As a result, an increasing number of clothing brands are incorporating recycled materials into their products.
