Revised waste management legislation underway
Baboki Kayawe | Wednesday October 19, 2016 17:17
The policy will address existing gaps and deficiencies in the system, authorities have said.
In the face of waste management challenges in the country exacerbated by population growth, ubarnisation, industrialisation as well as consumer behaviour lifestyles, it is increasingly becoming difficult to manage and tap economic benefit from waste.
Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Elias Magosi said this at the Waste Management Pitso in the capital yesterday.
“There is need to revamp policies and regulations to control mismanagement of waste,” he said.
That especially clinical waste is thrown indiscriminately is an eyesore that the waste management sector is concerned about. Inadequate infrastructural and institutional capacity at local government level, Magosi said, has seen the country resorting to South Africa for disposal and treatment of hazardous waste.
“Due to lack of specialised containers to transport other kinds of these harzadous waste to South Africa it end up being disposed anyhow,” he said.
This is a consequence of limited funding and human resources, which manifest into the public using alternative means of waste disposal.
This has had serious repercussions.
“Notwane river is seriously contaminated, and we are in conversation with the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services and as well as Health and Wellness to see how best to tackle this issue,” he added.
“This situation could also have severe threat to public health.”
Under the upcoming legislation, Magosi said charges for indiscriminate waste disposal would be hiked so that individuals and the business community feel the financial impact of their actions.
At the same occasion, Environment and Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism Minister, Tshekedi Khama made an impassionate plea for humans to change mindsets towards waste management.
“I think you will agree (with me) that we have been living beyond the sustainable capacity of the planet for a very long time and our challenge now is to find ways and means of living our lives in ways that do not contribute to all the environmental problems that we are encountering,” he said.
He added the country has had a fair share of these problems and challenges posed by inappropriate waste management practices. Khama concurred with Magosi that the increase in population, the socio-economic growth and changing consumption and production patterns have resulted in rapid increase in the generation of waste in the country.
“Without preventive measures and tight controls, high risks of environmental pollution is quite possible and with the current practice of indiscriminate and illegal dumping of waste, the deterioration of water quality in our rivers and aquifers, resource depletion or destruction of habitat and biodiversity is unavoidable,” he warned.