THE South African government does not intend ratifying an international treaty aimed at banning the importation of hazardous waste into Africa, saying it wants to protect SA’s own waste disposal industry. This is according to a parliamentary reply by Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa to a question from Congress of the People MP William Madisha.

According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, SA generates about 46-million tonnes of waste annually. Eskom’s nuclear power plant at Koeberg, near Cape Town, generates about 32 tonnes of spent radioactive fuel each year. Over a 40-year design lifetime of the plant, this adds up to 1,280 tonnes.

SA’s mines, research institutions and hospitals also generate radioactive and hazardous waste. However, the figures for this from the Department of Environmental Affairs were last compiled 16 years ago. The department said the total waste disposal industry employed about 65,000 people and had an annual turnover of about R10bn.

In her reply, Ms Molewa said the hazardous waste industry had great potential to create jobs. "It is for this primary reason that SA does not intend to ratify the Bamako Convention, in order to ensure that SA’s recycling industry is protected and encouraged to grow."

The convention is an international treaty that prohibits the import of any hazardous waste. The convention was initially negotiated by 12 African nations in 1991 and came into force in 1998.

The need for the convention came after the realisation that firms were exporting dangerous and, at times, highly radioactive waste from developed countries to Africa. According to international media reports, the dumping of such waste has been going on for about 40 years, starting in the early 1970s.

Ms Molewa said that the industry was encouraged to use the opportunity, which contributed to job creation and enterprise development.

She said SA accepted hazardous waste from other Southern African Development Community countries at its licensed facilities due to the lack of capacity in those countries to dispose of such waste in an environmentally acceptable manner.

"The proximity rule is applied, where wastes are to be treated as close as possible to the source of generation. Furthermore, the recycling of hazardous waste in an environmentally sound manner is also encouraged," Ms Molewa said.

She said waste disposal facilities should ensure that the working environment was safe and that the workers were informed of possible health and safety dangers.