South Africa wants waste treated as a business, not a burden
Recyclers could get licences in 90 days, and producers' recycling bodies may have to put 40% of their fees into infrastructure. Fifty-six recycling firms have already had R200m of support.
PANM — South Africa's waste sector should be seen as a source of jobs, businesses and raw materials, not just a problem for government, the Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Bernice Swarts, told a Circular Economy Summit at the University of Limpopo on Thursday, the government news agency SAnews reports.
Landfill should be a last resort, she said, because materials that could be recovered are being buried.
What is changing
- The department is reviewing its extended producer responsibility rules. One proposal would require the organisations that collect recycling fees from producers to invest 40% of those fees in waste infrastructure.
- It is finalising rules to cut licensing times, with a proposed 90-day turnaround for authorising the reuse of waste.
- Only about 10% of waste is currently kept out of landfill, and fewer than 20% of landfill sites comply with the rules.
Who is being helped
The department's Recycling Enterprise Support Programme has backed 56 small and medium recycling businesses with support worth about R200 million. At least 12 are owned by women and 13 are in Limpopo.
Ms Swarts urged students to see the opportunities in innovation and enterprise, and called for closer cooperation between government, industry, municipalities, communities and entrepreneurs.
Source: SAnews, 15 October 2026.
