Chairperson, Minister, you have touched on the monetary value of waste and I would like to say that the current narrow approach to cost-effectiveness in waste management focuses on the monetary values of the service. However, we might need a broader approach. Considering the South African socioeconomic challenge, equity policy, the Bill of Rights, environmental costs - as you have referred to in a way - which result in significant costs and a huge impact on waste management that are not accounted for in the current financial accounting systems in most municipalities, has the department ever performed a full cost-accounting exercise for waste management and if so, what was the outcome of such a study and what would be the implications for municipal waste management, and if not, do you think it would be worthwhile to do so?
The MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Hon member, I
am sure you agree that it is a new question. If you give it to me in writing, I will find out for you. Where we agree with you, however, is that if, as I was saying to the previous hon member, we are serious about introducing this concept of the circular economy where every product, when it has fulfilled it current life, is the raw material for another product, instead of it being a product that is discarded, we have to introduce that concept properly and think about how we minimise waste on the one side, but on the other, we have to think about the issue of the extended producer responsibility.
So, when we look at issues such as plastic bags and tires, both of those commodities have a tax on them, which is paid by the consumer. The idea of that tax is that that tax money must be used for the life cycle of that particular product.
We can debate here whether that has been effectively done, but in my view that is really where we have to go with waste. I don't think that we have enough space in our country for landfills with our growing population and all of the waste it will produce. We have to, on a much more serious basis, start to address the question of the circular economy and reuse of commodities. Thank you.