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Newsletter / Blog 2014-10-14 The reason behind Waste recycling Historically, South Africa followed the “end-of-pipe approach to waste management. i.e. Generated waste was collected by the municipalities and disposed of in landfill sites. The focus, at the time, was on finding more space for more landfill sites. Environmental issues have now become a matter of public concern and enviromental awareness is growing resulting in pressure forcing us as a public to change from this behaviour.
Waste management in South Africa is based on the principles of the White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management (IP&WM) and the National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) published by the De-partment of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in 1999 and 2000 respectively and the subsequent enhance-ment of the new National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008). The National Environmental Management: Waste Amendment Act, 2014 (Act No 26 of 2014): We have to change this as it is becoming a threat to our enviroment. Recovery- refers to the controlled extraction (of material) or retrieval of (energy) any substance, [or] material or object from waste [to produce a project] Re-use- refers to the utilise the whole, a portion of or a specific part of any [articles] substance, material or object from the waste stream[again] for similar or different purpose without changing the form or properties of such[articles] substance, material or object. Recycling- means a process where waste is reclaimed for further use, which process involves the separation of waste from a waste stream for further use and the processing of that separated material as a product or raw material Do your bit to save the planet. it is the only one we have Johannesburg, Cape Town and eThekwini (Durban) have started pilot projects to increase the amount of waste that is recycled. Johannesburg’s waste collection company, Pikitup, wants 80% of the city’s waste to be treated in this way. The company currently has four landfill sites which at the present rate of disposal will be full in 12, 9, 7 and 3 years respectively. |
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