ECOmonkey recycling - Saving the planet one bin at a time !!!

Waste management in South Africa is controlled by many Acts and Regulations, the most important of which are the:

National Environment Management Act (108 0f 1998)
National Environment Management: Air Quality Act (39 of 2004)
National Water Act (36 of 1998)
Environment Conservation Act (73 of 1989)
Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act (45 of 1965)
National Building Regulations (storage requirements)
Implications of the Waste Water Management Bill

South Africa has a trusted regulatory framework for waste management - one of the best in the world. Government signed the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations aimed at combating global warming, as early as June 2002. Concomitant with that declaration, we have real, intense Government monitoring of commerce and industry. Recycle Now has thorough knowledge of all the local and global legislative requirements of waste management and recycling, and will ensure that your company is compliant. You will be able to report positively and conscientiously on your recycling initiative to your shareholders and stakeholders.

South Africa's draft Waste Management Bill is expected to come into force by the end of 2007. It will act as a legal framework that provides a basis for the regulation of the country's waste management problem. The Bill targets waste minimization by promoting waste avoidance, recovery, re-use and recycling, and using disposal of waste as a last resort. This is because South Africa is running out of landfill space and waste management is placing a drain on the national economy.

By the end of the 1990s it was estimated that South Africa's annual waste stream amounted to 15 million tons of domestic waste and 25 million tons of waste from industry. South /Africa's 1200 landfill sites are filled to capacity and taking increasing strain. Plastic waste, especially bottles, creates a particular challenge, as the volumes take up space, yet takes thousands of years to break down and degrade.

The Bill sets out measures for the storage, collection, transportation, recovery, re-use, recycling, treatment, and disposal of waste. It places a greater responsibility on the producers of waste and contaminated land. The Department of Environmental; Affairs and Tourism (Deat) is responsible for the Bill. They intend establishing a national and provincial waste information system, which would help determine how much waste was generated, and where, assisting in the sourcing of landfill sites.