Rethinking and Transforming Waste Management.
Governments and their municipalities face a growing challenge when managing the increasing amount of waste generated daily in communities. The demand for a more seamless, high–level waste system becomes ever more important in the wake of urbanisation. But, as populations grow and communities become more integrated and technologically fluent, countries are confronted with the onus of rethinking and transforming the ways in which they might approach effective and meaningful waste management.
The National Waste Management Plan
What It Is and What It Means for Communities
Waste management concerns and strategies may be nuanced from country to country, however, the core touchpoints of a robust, effective waste management plan are universal. National Waste Management Plans (NWMPs) are crucial in that they (i) provide a comprehensive framework for promoting sustainable waste management ideations and execution methodologies that aim to enhance and protect the environment, (ii) address the general well-being of citizens and conserve resources through recycling and composting, and, (iii) and improve the economy through job creation and growing local industries.
In South Africa, the Department of Environmental Affairs drafted its 2011 NWMP[MvW1] , similar to the long-term Integrated Resource Plan for the energy sector. The intention is to address a variety of issues: including a growing population and economy; intricacies concerning the waste stream as a result of urbanisation and industrialisation; a historical backlog of waste for services in peri-urban areas, tribal and rural formal areas; insufficiently compliant landfills; and dangerous waste management facilities that hinder the safe disposal of waste streams (DFFE, 2011). In 2015, UN member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are deeply concerned with the alleviation of poverty and protecting the environment and the planet. The NWMP is thus a direct response to global imaginations of ‘Responsible Consumption and Production’ (DFFE, 2011).
Dark Days for Sanitation
The Impact of Load shedding on Water and Sanitation Services
For several years, Eskom has been unable to remedy the continuous failure and maintenance of its electricity plants resulting in South Africans living with scheduled power outages which disrupt their lives daily. Analysts have long discussed their concerns for the economy, and many have suggested the energy crisis might get worse before it gets better. The frequent power cuts have severely impacted essential services such as water and sanitation.
Recently, Water and Sanitation Director-General Dr Sean Phillips explained that since municipalities use electrical pumping systems to fill up their water reservoirs, frequent power cuts mean that there isn’t enough pressure in the ‘gravity-fed’ system for water to reach communities (EWN, 2023). The Department of Water and Sanitation has also communicated that load shedding compromised the quality of water and how it is treated in the waste-water treatment process as a result of poor discharge from the treatment plants (Bloomberg, 2023). Since citizens and businesses need both water and electricity, they have been disenchanted with the lack of effort by the South African government to tend to the crisis aptly. This has necessitated a need for sustainable energy, equipment and increased power systems to address South Africa’s energy crisis.
Sparking Progress
How Energy Research Lights the Path to a Sustainable Future
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a global fund which was established in 2010 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Fund provides financial support for climate change efforts and adaptation projects in developing countries that encourage public and private resources to support low-emission and climate-resilient development in these countries. The Waste Management Flagship
Programme is a ‘near-term priority flagship programme’ which is outlined in South Africa’s National Climate Change Response Policy.
The programme aims to initially implement organic treatment solutions in six municipalities and then roll out into twenty-four additional municipalities through its ‘programmatic approach’ (GCF, 2020). With expected outputs to include energy and compost, the department suggests direct impacts and co-benefits of the programme will mean:
- Reduced air pollution
- Job creation
- Improved waste collection services
- As a result of compost applications, food security and ecosystem services will be enhanced
Building Bridges
Public-Private Partnerships and the Power of Collaboration
Public-private partnerships are contractual agreements between public sector institutions and private organisations where the government institution partners with the private organisation to execute a particular project (National Treasury, 2021). The National Treasury notes that investing time and resources in public-private partnerships (PPPs) can create a more competitive infrastructure base which will revitalise South Africa’s economy, drawing in private financing for future public infrastructure projects and sharing risk of performance with the private sector. The scope of these projects is extensive as these can include water, public transportation networks, energy, hospitals, prisons, parks and convention centres (Investopedia, 2022).
PPPs are important in that they help the public and private sectors identify key objectives in service delivery. Working partnerships are beneficial in improving a country’s efficiency and innovation in waste management. Waste management productivity can be enhanced through improved public sector performance as a result of PPPs. The private sector also benefits from these partnerships as governments offer incentives such as tax concessions as and when projects are completed on schedule and within budget and periods of exclusive operation. The impact of PPPs, of course, also extends directly to citizens through meaningful structures such as education, skills-building and job creation (Research Gate, 2002).
Successful PPPs have several benefits including creating trust between the public and private sectors, providing an example or model of how to best execute a working PPP agreement and expanding capacity within both sectors through investment and collaboration. By exploiting these factors public-private partnerships can encourage and influence more collaborations with other government entities and businesses as a means of achieving greater impact.
The power of collaboration that PPPs bring is especially evident in our South African context, where there is a great need to improve public infrastructure and service delivery.
References
https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/2020nationalwaste_managementstrategy1.pdf
https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/nationalwaste_management_strategy.pdf
https://ewn.co.za/2023/02/08/water-dept-says-load-shedding-severely-impacts-water-supply
https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/ppf-application-waste-management
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/public-private-partnerships.asp
https://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/national%20budget/2017/review/annexure%20e.pdf
https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/about-public-private-partnerships