M.A. / In present-day society, solid waste can no longer be treated as a non-valuable resource. Municipal waste produced from residential and commercial sources has become an economic resource for the poor on landfill sites. Urban poor, rural-urban migrants and urban-urban migrants are the ultimate symbol of the informal economy on landfill sites. These migrants have identified waste as an economic resource to extract a livelihood. In their presence on landfill sites, South Africa has introduced waste management policies which endorse the notion of sustainable development. Sustainable development is the notion through which South Africa shapes and parallels its environmental directive to avoid destruction and depletion of natural resources. Sustainable development is a theoretical framework adopted by this study to evaluate the effect of legislation on informal waste salvagers and waste salvaging. Waste salvaging is often frowned upon and neglected by local municipal authorities who are constitutionally mandated to ensure preservation of natural resources. Amongst other things, local municipalities need to recreate economic opportunities and curb the unemployment rate. Furthermore, South African municipalities deliberated during the tabling of the Polokwane Declaration to reduce waste disposal by 50% in 2012 through waste recycling and waste minimisation. In the absence of employment opportunities, local municipalities in South Africa are continually faced with the dilemma of incorporating informal waste salvaging into their waste management directives. This study uses Weltevreden landfill site in Polokwane as a case study to evaluate the effects of legislation on informal waste salvaging. A waste management and sustainability framework towards career waste salvagers was developed as a paradigm to incorporate elements of sustainable livelihood approach. The framework allowed the study to comprehend the synergy and the discords that waste management directives in South Africa unravel on informal waste salvaging. Furthermore, this led to the procreation of a model to unlock the economic potential of waste in South African municipalities. The model recognises the elements of waste management directives such as National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No.107 of 1998) and National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008). Despite that, the model resonates on the promulgations made in the Waste Act, 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008) on informal waste salvaging. This study intends to evaluate the extent to which contemporary waste management directives in South Africa support waste salvaging within the three pillars of sustainable development, namely economic, social and environmental. However, this research hypothesises that waste management directives in South Africa fail to support the three pillars of sustainable development. In light of the hypothesis, this research has identified waste salvagers, waste Thaba Makgafela Richard iii management officials and the public as instrumental respondents to evaluate perceptions and challenges linked to the informal waste economy. A desktop review of available regulatory instruments informed recommendations and the model procreated in this study. The key lessons are highlighted and followed in Chapter 7 which provides analytical conclusions and recommendations for all the chapters.