In South Africa thousands of unemployed people earn a living by recovering recyclable materials from the municipal stream, garbage bins and garbage dumps. In so doing their activities are also beneficial to the environment because raw materials and energy are saved and pollution is reduced. However, waste reclamation in South Africa seems not to be adequately regulated, supported nor formally recognised by authorities. This study aims to investigate the extent to which South African Environmental law enables and regulates waste reclamation, whether directly and/or indirectly, with a view to improving the regulatory policy and legislative framework pertaining to waste reclamation. In this regard the study considers key policy and legislation pertaining to waste management in South Africa. To this end the Minimum Requirementsfor Waste Disposal by Landfill as published by the then Department of Water Affairs and Forestry serve as a guideline for the formalisation and control of waste reclamation at landfills. However, there is a need to formulate regulations under NEM: WA to regulate waste reclamation inside and even outside landfills. Moreover, the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs also needs to formulate standard model waste reclamation by-laws which would be adapted by municipalities to suit local circumstances. The long term view of government is to phase out waste reclamation at landfills in favour of waste separation at source. In order to realise this objective it is important for government, especially at local level, to integrate waste reclaimers in the formal waste management programmes by virtue of their experience in recovery of recyclables from the waste stream, and these programmesmust be included in municipal IWMPs and IDPs for implementation. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In South Africa thousands of unemployed people earn a living by recovering recyclable materials from the municipal stream, garbage bins and garbage dumps. In so doing their activities are also beneficial to the environment because raw materials and energy are saved and pollution is reduced. However, waste reclamation in South Africa seems not to be adequately regulated, supported nor formally recognised by authorities. This study aims to investigate the extent to which South African Environmental law enables and regulates waste reclamation, whether directly and/or indirectly, with a view to improving the regulatory policy and legislative framework pertaining to waste reclamation. In this regard the study considers key policy and legislation pertaining to waste management in South Africa. To this end the Minimum Requirementsfor Waste Disposal by Landfill as published by the then Department of Water Affairs and Forestry serve as a guideline for the formalisation and control of waste reclamation at landfills. However, there is a need to formulate regulations under NEM: WA to regulate waste reclamation inside and even outside landfills. Moreover, the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs also needs to formulate standard model waste reclamation by-laws which would be adapted by municipalities to suit local circumstances. The long term view of government is to phase out waste reclamation at landfills in favour of waste separation at source. In order to realise this objective it is important for government, especially at local level, to integrate waste reclaimers in the formal waste management programmes by virtue of their experience in recovery of recyclables from the waste stream, and these programmesmust be included in municipal IWMPs and IDPs for implementation. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

För att kunna uppnå de tuffare materialåtervinningsmålen som börjar gälla i Sverige år 2020 måste utsorteringen av bland annat plast-, papper- och metallförpackningar öka. Hushållsavfall beskrivs som en av de mest miljöpåverkande kategorin av avfall men samtidigt den kategori där det finns mest potential för förbättringar genom bättre hantering. Plockanalyser från 67 procent av Sveriges kommuner mellan åren 2013 och 2016 visar att ett svenskt villahushålls restavfall innehåller 34,5 procent förpackningar och returpapper som skulle kunna sorteras ut för materialåtervinning. Ett sätt att öka utsorteringen av producentansvarsmaterial från restavfallet och då kunna uppnå materialåtervinningsmålen är att kommuner erbjuder enklare samt ökad service i form av källsortering närmare hushållen. Tidigare studier har jämfört systemen optisk sortering och fyrfackskärl, som båda innebär källsortering närmare hushållen, med det vanligaste systemet i Sverige idag, tvåkärl, som inte innebär en ökad service genom kvalitativa metoder. Systemen har inte jämförts med kvantitativa metoder utifrån ekonomi eller miljö och inte heller med ett nytt koncept som heter Kvartersnära insamling. Den här rapporten har därför jämfört de fyra systemen utifrån aspekterna miljö och ekonomi med hjälp av verktygen livscykel- och livscykelkostnadsanalys som applicerades i ett område i Kristinehamns kommun för att på så sätt komma närmare verkligheten. Resultatet visar att systemet kvartersnära insamling har lägst miljöpåverkan i de undersökta miljöpåverkanskategorierna och därefter fyrfackskärl, optisk sortering och högst miljöpåverkan har systemet tvåkärl utifrån förutsättningarna och antagandena som har applicerats i studien. Livscykelanalysen visar att miljönyttan med materialåtervinningen överväger konsekvenserna av ökade transporter. Systemet med lägst livscykelkostnad är tvåkärl och sedan kvartersnära insamling, optisk sortering och dyrast livscykelkostnad har fyrfackskärl utifrån antaganden och de förutsättningar som använts i studien. En slutsats från rapporten är att det är viktigt att även undersöka andra aspekter förutom ekonomi och miljö vid val av insamlingssystem då resultatet till stor del beror på andra aspekter bland annat användarens uppfattning om systemet. / To achieve the stricter material recycling goals in Sweden in 2020 plastic-, metallic- and paper packages need to be better sorted from the household waste. Household waste might have the highest environmental impact compared with other sorts of waste but household waste has the highest potential to lower its impact. Waste pick-up analysis from 67 percent of Sweden's municipalities between 2013 and 2016 show that a Swedish household waste contains 34.5 percent packaging and recycled paper that could be sorted for recycling. The producers of that material have the responsibility to collect it but it does not work as well as planned because of different circumstances. One way to increase the recycling of the material from the household waste and then achieve the material recycling goals is that municipalities offer simpler and increased service in the form of source sorting closer to the households. Previous studies have compared the systems of optical sorting and multi compartment bin, which offer separation at sources closer to the households. Moreover, those systems have been compared with the most common system in Sweden today, two bins, which do not involve increased service. The systems have not been compared with quantitative methods based on economics or the environment, nor with a new concept called district collection. This report has compared the four systems. The aspects that have been compared are the environmental aspects and economical aspects by using the tools lifecycle assessment and lifecycle cost assessment. Moreover, the systems have been fictive studied in an area in the municipality of Kristinehamn, in order to get closer to reality. The results indicate that the collection system district collection had the lowest environmental impact followed by multi compartment bin and then optical sorting. Moreover, the system with two bins has the highest impact in the studied environmental impact categories according to the assumptions that have been applied in the study. The lifecycle assessment indicates that the benefits with material recycling is higher than the environmental impacts of increased transportation. The system with lowest lifecycle cost is the system with two bins and then the district collection. The system with highest lifecycle cost is the system optical sorting and the system with the second highest cost is multi compartment bin according to the assumptions that have been applied in the study. One conclusion from the study is that it is important to investigate more aspects than environmental impact and costs when to decide collection system. It is because the results depends on the other aspects as well like the users experience about the system.

Waste management is a global concern and landfill sites are facing a crisis of handling capacity. This is worsened by the fact that many consider landfilling as an environmentally responsible and cost-effective solution to waste disposal. Carnival City generates vast quantities of solid waste on a daily basis and most of it ends at the landfill, which it acknowledges that it’s a wastage of recoverable resources, hence its commitment of “zero-waste-to-landfills by 2022”. This study evaluated solid waste management practices at Carnival City Casino in Brakpan. Informed by an interpretive paradigm, qualitative methods including interviews, observations, photographs and document reviews were used to collect data. Based on abductive reasoning, the waste management hierarchy and the ISO 14001 standard were used as frameworks for recontextualising and presenting the collected data. The waste hierarchy sets out the preferred order of waste management practices, from the most favoured to the least preferred option. The effectiveness of current waste management practices is limited as Carnival City heavily depends on landfilling and implement waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and recovery on a small scale. Absence of a waste separation at source policy limits recycling activities significantly. The researcher noted the presence of some areas of conformity to South African legislation pertaining to waste management, international standards and Carnival City’s standard operating procedures, and some areas of good practice. The study showed that there is room for improving concerning Carnival City’s current waste management practices. It recommends that waste management training and awareness be undertaken on a continuous basis to improve current practices and ensure that more waste is diverted from landfill sites. Investment into waste to energy technologies should be considered to help Carnival City to meet Sun International’s commitment of “zero-waste-to-landfills by 2022”. Recycling must be maximised and its environmental and financial benefits be highlighted. The research recommends developing of a separation at source policy and its enforcement by the Environmental Committee as the absence of the documented procedures results in deviations from environmental objectives. Offenders who do not follow procedures should be duly punished. It also recommends that a disciplinary action and a fine be introduced for kitchens that will deviate from the policy. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)