The status of waste information in South Africa

The Waste Act, 2008, places a responsibility on the Minister of Environmental Affairs to establish a National Waste Information System. It is the intention of the South African Waste Information System (SAWIS), to provide a national baseline of the tonnages of waste recycled, treated, landfilled and exported. Waste information thus collected will inform amongst others, education, awareness raising, planning, reporting and public safety management. However, until SAWIS moves from voluntary reporting to enforced reporting under the planned regulations, the system is unable to provide annual reports on the state of waste. As such, the Department of Environmental Affairs commissioned the CSIR in partnership with COWI to develop a waste information baseline for 2011 using existing waste data stored in provincial and national waste information systems, and in public and private reports. This paper presents the preliminary findings of this waste information baseline for South Africa.