Circular Economy Guidelines in the waste sector for South Africa

South Africa’s current framework for managing solid waste doesn’t support an easy transition to a circular economy. There’s a tendency for waste operators to bypass legal requirements by staying below regulatory thresholds and for the regulations to be enforced inconsistently. With the costs of landfilling expected to increase dramatically over the next few years, there is an urgent need to implement policies that reduce these costs by diverting materials from landfills and sorting the various material flows, such as organics, paper products, bulky materials, and plastics.

SWITCH Africa Green helped carry out of a comprehensive review of the existing laws, policies, and business environment to guide South African policy makers on creating guidelines for waste management that support a circular economy. A couple of the main recommendations from the guidelines include the need to strengthen the policy and legislative environment to enable implementation of circular economy initiatives and the need to create fiscal instruments, such as subsidies that encourage the demand for circular products and innovative technologies. 

Read a complete explanation of the guidelines in the policy brief.