DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICAN WASTE LAW – THE 2013 NEMA AMENDMENT ACT AND RECTIFICATION APPLICATIONS

The end of 2013 saw a flurry of environmental law publications in the Government Gazette, including publications which have changed aspects of the waste management regime.

These publications include:

• Amendments to the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (“NEM”) introduced by the National Environmental Laws Second Amendment Act 30 of 2013 (“the 2013 NEMA Amendment Act”);
• Amendments to the List of Waste Management Activities published in terms of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008 (“the Waste Act”);
• Amendments to the NEMA Listed Activities iii in relation to certain waste related activities;
• Publications under the Waste Act of waste classification and management regulations; iv National Norms and Standards for the storage of waste; disposal of waste to landfill vi and National Standards for the extraction, flaring and recovery of landfill gas; and the scrapping or recovery of motor vehicles.

In this update we discuss certain aspects of the 2013 NEM Amendment Act, which appears to have aligned the NEMA with aspects of the Waste Act, particularly the specific inclusion of the Waste Act as a specific environmental management Act (“SEMA”) and the application of section 24G of NEMA to the unlawful commencement of waste management activities.

Please contact us if you wish to discuss any of the other amendments of the law listed above.

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