The South African Department of Water and Environmental Affairs on Tuesday announced to start its National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) for protecting the environment.
Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said in Pretoria, the administrative capital, that the strategy presents a plan for addressing the key issues, needs and problems on waste with
several important goals which should be met by 2016.
The goals include ensuring residents to improve their awareness of the negative impact of waste on their health, well- being and the environment, promoting waste minimization, re-using, recycling and recovery as well as growing the contribution of the waste to the green economy.
The goals will also require to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of waste services and provide measures to deal with the
polluted land.
The government official said the strategy implementation will generate and sustain jobs as well as formalize existing jobs in the waste economy with an aim of creating nearly 70,000 jobs and 2,600
additional small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives.
The strategy will benefit 95 percent of urban households and 75 percent of the rural households by offering access to adequate
levels of waste collection services, and 80 percent of the waste disposal sites should have permits by 2016, the minister said.
In the country, about 80 percent of schools will implement waste
awareness programs among the pupils and students, according to the
strategy.
The official stressed that the implementation of the strategy
needs the coordination between the government and the society, such
as households, communities, businesses and non-government
organizations.
The draft strategy was published for collecting the public
opinion in June 2010, and the strategy was approved by the cabinet
for implementation In November 2011, said the official.
On May 4, the strategy was published by the Department of Water
and Environmental Affairs for immediate implementation.
