Good evening, Chairperson, Madam Minister, Deputy Minister and hon members. Appropriate waste management remains a substantial challenge in South Africa - we are a wasteful country. The legacy of uneven development has also resulted in substantial service backlogs. As of 2007, about 61% of households have had access to kerbside domestic waste collection, but access has been skewed in favour of urban and more affluent areas.
Waste management is a function of local government, but national government has an important role to play in providing norms and standards and monitoring compliance.
Progress in this regard has been made over the last year. The Minister must be commended for finalising the National Waste Management Strategy in November 2011. This is a legislative requirement of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, Act No 59 of 2008, and its purpose is to realise the objectives of the Act.
There is growing pressure on the outdated waste management infrastructure in South Africa, and at the municipal level there are declining levels of capital investment and maintenance. There are no permits for more than half of the 1 300 landfill sites in South Africa, while about 90% of the nonpermitted landfill sites are owned by municipalities. We also know that about 80% of the waste ends up on creaking landfill sites, while the norm for developed countries is about 20%.
The challenges of building capacity at the municipal level are great. Many of our municipalities are not able to carry out their most basic functions. Waste management for such municipalities is usually conducted in the cheapest possible way, dumping refuse in landfills or on open dumps, with little consideration given to supervisory and regulatory measures. Making use of the full waste management hierarchy in descending order of priority, including waste avoidance and reduction, reuse and recycling, recovery and treatment of disposal as a last resort, is more expensive and more burdensome for local authorities.
All municipalities are now required to have integrated waste management plans, while the relevant MECs are required to support and monitor the development and implementation of these plans. The capacity challenge at local government is particularly acute and for this reason it is noteworthy that the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs is committed to delivering training and expert advice for local authorities. Oversight over the implementation of the National Waste Management Strategy will be an important role for Parliament in the period going forward. Arguably, the Treasury allocation for activities related to improving waste management across the country is too little for the next three years. I am confident, though, that if the department can show success, it can make a case for greater appropriations in this regard in the future.
The management of health care risk waste in South Africa remains a considerable concern for the DA. This is a hazardous category of waste. While there may be enough treatment capacity across the country, it is regionally skewed, requiring the transport of hazardous waste across provincial boundaries in search of treatment facilities. When available treatment facilities fail, or are undercapacitated, localised crises occur that sometimes result in illegal dumping by unscrupulous service providers. Worse, ethical service providers, who go out of their way to comply with the complex regulations and laws, are sometimes forced into transgression.
This sector is crying out for greater management by provincial health authorities, who award the tenders for government health care facilities to health care risk waste service providers. There have been irregularities in at least four provinces over the last two years, where government has awarded contracts to providers who either cannot do the job of treating and disposing of medical waste or government has not awarded the contract to the cheapest bidder. The Department of Water and Environment Affairs, which arguably has the greatest understanding of the global medical waste landscape in South Africa, needs to be involved in working with the health departments to ensure that the tenders go to ethical service providers that can do the job in the best interest of the environment.
Waste management poses significant challenges in South Africa but, if appropriately planned and regulated, it can provide significant opportunities. Most significantly, it can be a creator of jobs, particularly in the recycling sector. These opportunities are only starting to be realised. The Minister and her department have done substantial work in laying the foundations; now for the implementation. [Applause.]