The Solid Waste Management Industry in South Africa 2024

This report on solid waste management in South Africa includes information on public and private waste management services and responsibilities, provincial distribution of waste management, waste generation, access to waste management services, recycling and service delivery. There is information on key challenges and interventions, and additional information on electronic, plastic and medical waste. The report includes notable players, corporate actions and opportunities for SMEs and entrepreneurs.

There are profiles of 19 companies including major foreign-owned players such as EnviroServ, Interwaste and Averda, medical waste companies such as Compass Medical Waste Services, e-waste companies such as EWaste Africa, and municipal companies such as Pikitup.

Introduction

• South Africa generates more than 125Mt of solid waste annually, most of which ends up in landfill sites. 
• 60% of households have access to regular refuse removal services. 
• Service delivery is significantly lower in rural areas, and inadequate or non-existent in informal settlements and poor urban areas, resulting in the proliferation of illegal dumping sites, littering and open burning of waste. 
• The delivery of waste management services is beset by challenges that pose significant health and environmental risks. 
• More than 80% of municipal landfill sites do not meet the minimum requirements and many waste disposal facilities are saturated, or nearing full capacity. 
• Stakeholders say it is critical to address unnecessary consumption and transition from a linear to a circular economy, focusing on sustainable practices.

South Africa Solid Waste Management Market Trends

• Focus on health concerns, ensuring that materials do not contain toxic additives and/or chemicals.
• Focus on sustainable waste management practices, including waste prevention and reduction, diverting waste from landfill, designing for recyclability, reuse, recycling, repair and repurposing of products, and producing energy from waste.
• Focus on the responsible management of problematic waste streams, notably plastics, tyres and hazardous waste, including e-waste.
• Greater focus on the circular economy, with end-of-life products regarded as an economic resource, rather than waste.
• Greater recognition of the need to integrate informal waste reclaimers into the formal waste sector and to improve their working conditions.
• Through extended producer responsibility schemes, the responsibility for the management of packaging, e-waste and lighting waste is shifting from municipalities to producers, importers, brand owners and retailers.

South Africa Solid Waste Management Market Opportunities

• Develop and implement training and support services for informal waste reclaimers.
• Develop educational programmes.
• Develop technologies to improve the efficiency of waste management processes and to strengthen pollution control.
• Develop voluntary extended producer responsibility programmes for the boatbuilding, ship repair and fishing sectors.
• Establish buy-back centres and materials recovery facilities for recyclable materials.
• Establish collection and recovery/recycling services for fast-growing waste streams such as e-waste and tyres.
• Produce compost/fertiliser and/or biochar (charcoal) from organic waste.
• Promote the beneficiation of waste, through composting, recycling, upcycling, repurposing, re-use/refill models, waste-to-energy.
• Provide specialised waste services in other African countries.
• Reduce the volume of packaging and food waste ending up in landfill sites by improving product design and designing for recyclability.

South Africa Solid Waste Management Market Challenges

• Inadequate pollution control, including open burning of potentially toxic waste, and limited enforcement of littering and illegal dumping by-laws.
• Inadequate waste treatment infrastructure, a lack of technological support, vehicles and equipment.
• Lack of public/community awareness regarding the health and environmental risks associated with waste mismanagement, illegal dumping and littering, and low levels of separation-at-source at the household level.
• Lack of service delivery in rural areas and in informal settlements.
• Lack of waste diversion infrastructure, including composting facilities, buy-back centres, materials recovery facilities, and recycling facilities.
• The global trade in waste and recyclable materials affects the domestic market, causing price volatility.
• Unsanitary landfills that are poorly constructed and/or inadequately managed, leading to leakage into the environment.
• Waste generation is underreported and the methods used to provide estimates vary. Statistics are therefore unreliable.
• Weak governance, institutional capacity constraints, insufficient budgetary allocations for waste management, unreliable data, mismanagement, corruption, and inadequate regulatory enforcement.
• Working conditions that are unsafe and unhealthy, particularly for informal waste collectors.

South Africa Solid Waste Management Market Outlook

• Ensuring that all citizens have access to proper waste management services is a public health imperative and should be a priority of any waste management strategy. 
• Shifting from disposal to prevention, re-use, recovery and recycling provides opportunities for job creation and economic development. 
• Policy developments, including the finalisation of the global treaty on plastic pollution, will likely focus on strengthening regulations to promote circular economy principles and reducing environmental impact. 
• Increased waste generation and inadequate landfill capacity open up potential growth opportunities for private waste management companies to partner with government on composting, waste-to-energy and recycling. 
• With the responsibility for managing packaging, e-waste and lighting waste shifting to waste-producing companies, private waste management companies are expected to play an increasingly prominent role in sustainable waste management practices.