Municipalities have a constitutional mandate to manage urban waste. Historically, waste management has prioritised cost management factors, with the result that the dominant waste management strategy has been disposing of waste in landfill. In contrast, the circular economy model focuses on a more efficient allocation of resources. This model acknowledges the negative externalities, and levies a cost on the party responsible, so that this is not a cost to society. Producers are now being held accountable for the full lifecycle of a product, including its packaging. This is evident in National policies, such as the Regulations for Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP).
This Knowledge Product examines how communities could enhance economic, social and environmental benefits from a metro-wide circular economy strategy, using the case study of Pinetown South. The research into the waste value chain shows the various players and highlights the critical role of informal waste pickers and buy-back centres. At the township level, the strategy needs to address two issues. Firstly, to foster a citizenship culture around the importance of circularity and separation at source. Second, there is a need to enhance access to waste markets through strategic investment in waste management facilities, training and interventions to achieve efficiency. Currently, there are constraints to scalability, access to market and information asymmetry.
This Knowledge Product provides a case study for how to advance circular economy opportunities in the township economy and is structured as follows:
- Part A: Provides an overview of the Pinetown South area and the three nodes of Tshelimnyama, Kwandengezi and Nagina, situated within the broader spatial context of eThekwini.
- Part B: Conducts a situational analysis, outlining key spatial and infrastructure data such as mapping waste disposal infrastructure in eThekwini, the Circular Economy Waste Value Chain, and the waste-beneficiation process.
- Part C: Provides an overview of the community engagement and research into the waste value chain.
- Part D: Proposes a high-level design concept and development strategy for a waste aggregation site and buy-back centre
- Part E: This section presents the business case for investing in 20 micro collection sites, or buy-back centres.