#BizTrends2025: Why 2025 looks green for SA

Ashley du Plooy, Chief Executive Officer at ERA

In this article, we look at how the extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations are working to improve the environmental impact of e-waste and other waste in South Africa, by putting the onus on industry. This is putting us on the trajectory for a greener future in SA.

How SA producers are reducing their environmental impact

In 2021, producer responsibility for managing waste that derives from the products that producers place on market became a legal obligation through the EPR regulations.

The EPR regulations are universal for all producers in the SA market and are accompanied by specific sector notices for the following sectors:

1. paper and packaging products,
2. electronic and electrical equipment, and
3. lighting products – this was subsequently extended to include oil, pesticide and battery producers.

Relevant producers must register with the DFFE and are required to put funds towards these greener practices.

The intention of these regulations is for producers to address the effective management of their products when they reach their end of life, by paying for the development, management and operations of the waste management eco-system for their end-of-life products. Thus to relieve the country’s landfill space and municipal services.

It therefore requires that systems for the separate collection and treatment of identified end-of-life products be implemented, beneficiated and kept from landfill.

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A very important objective of the regulations is to promote an inclusive and job-creating economy among vulnerable demographics like women, youth and PLWD in the development of a circular waste economy.

Another objective is to increase publicly accessible collection points for the separately collected waste together with public education and awareness around waste that should not be put in the normal bin but should instead be recycled.

Why the three Rs are working to keep landfill from overflowing

Extended producer responsibility is a well-established concept and instrument that has been applied in many countries around the world – in some countries, for decades already. It aims to encourage producers to mitigate the impact of their products on health and the environment.

Among a range of objectives, it aims to encourage the production of more recyclable products, and recycled materials in production, extending the longevity of their products and much more.

It is an essential part of promoting a circular economy that moves away from use and dispose to use and reuse or repurpose.

It intends that producers use less virgin resources in manufacturing their products and where possible, use resources that have been mined from the existing waste products.

EPR ultimately recognises the fact that WEEE (otherwise known as e-waste) is growing between three and four times faster than solid municipal waste, here in SA and globally, and can continue or accelerate this trajectory into the future and potentially fill up our precious little landfill space and cause harm to health and the environment.

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What has happened in the first three years in e-waste - and what’s ahead?

There is a group of pioneer producers who have not only risen to the EPR challenge, but who have also wholeheartedly endorsed the terms and objectives of the EPR regulations.

Those who are attending to their EPR obligations through joining an extended producer responsibility scheme operated by a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) number around 200 to 300 producers currently. This out of an estimated total of 3,000 to 6,000 producers who should be compliant.

These compliant producers are in effect footing the EPR regulation bill on behalf of the overwhelming proportion of “free riders”. In addition to the financial impact, corporate professionals like auditors, finance managers and compliance officers run the risk of being compromised professionally.

Consumer education around the management of WEEE has received a considerable boost through the high-profile campaigns and messaging we have undertaken in conjunction with our members and partners like Makro, Pick n Pay, Dell, and Cartoon Network.

The involvement of the Springboks in public awareness and education campaigns contributed considerably to raising the country’s overall awareness – the challenges, opportunities and the appropriate management of WEEE, from household through to corporate level.

Conclusion

We can expect that in 2025, awareness of a circular economy and good waste management practices will grow, and those who aren’t environmentally compliant will increasingly find themselves on the wrong side of the law and public opinion.

The implementation of EPR regulations has only just started to gain traction, and in due course we can expect a steady march towards a more sustainable future.