GOOD Statement by Kaden Arguile ,
GOOD National Youth Chairperson
1 January 2025
The clock is ticking on the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development. Signed in 2015 by 193 United Nations member countries, South Africa is falling behind in its obligations to act to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity.
Not only are there economic and diplomatic ramifications for not meeting these international climate goals but the failure to act now will unfairly burden the youth.
One of the key areas putting pressure on this deadline is waste management.
South Africa is failing at substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reusing.
The truth is that the close to two thousand waste disposal, handling, recycling and export facilities registered with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment play a vital role in shaping our country’s environmental future.
Without these facilities facilitating and accurately reporting on their waste levels this future comes to a grinding halt.
Investments will be made incorrectly regarding infrastructure. Environmental decisions will not have accurate data for decision-making. And eventually, the dam will burst resulting in a complete system failure.
This reality is where we find ourselves with a minority (1/3) of these two thousand facilities accurately reporting their waste through the departments SA Waste Information Centre (SAWIC).
The result of this? Millions of tons of waste are being unaccounted for.
The brunt of this incompetence will fall on the environments surrounding these facilities as well as the communities that depend on them.
The department has a duty to ensure that these facilities are reporting their data accurately.
While some ‘accountability’ has occurred for the branches failing to report, GOOD calls for full transparency on the disciplinary processes and outcomes.
Industry experts, professors and executive committee members of organizations such as the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) have also called the remaining third of data “useless”.
A lack of equipment, provincial capacity and internet access combined with high staff turnover at facilities has led to this current reality.
Urgent intervention is needed to combat this growing crisis.
We have seen the writing on the wall for Eskom, Water and the Postal Service. A total collapse of Waste cannot be allowed to happen.
The impact of this will fall on the next generation.
The loss of our biodiversity means children are robbed of our environmental experiences.
GOOD calls on the department to release the data on non-responsive facilities, immediately address the failure of the SAWIC system and begin work on a new/revised system to be implemented as soon as possible.
The youth of this country cannot afford to have rubbish robbing us of our future.
Media enquiries: media@forgood.org.za