Recycling in SA – How does the National Domestic Waste Collection Standards affect consumers?

Abstract

The backlog in waste service delivery in South Africa is a well known fact, and there is increased pressure on municipalities to provide waste collection services to all and introduce seperation of waste at source. To redress past imbalances in waste collection service provision, it is imperative that acceptable, affordable and sustainable waste services be provided to all South Africans. However, poor quality waste collection services can result in a number of environmental and health problems. Critical to the provisioning of services is an acknowledgement of the differentiated capacities of municipalities in providing the services. However, there needs to be some level of uniformity in the range of services that are provided, in order that citizens of this country do not experience different standards of service. Therefore, there is a need for municipalities to adopt similar services standards. In this regard the Department of Environmental Affairs with the assistance of the CSIR developed National Domestic Waste Collection Standards that contain a range of service standards appropriate to different contexts. The standards, which came into effect on 1 February 2011, also provide for the implementation of the waste management hierarchy that require waste avoidance, reduction, re-use, recycling and recovery and waste treatment and disposal as last resort.