WASTE MANAGEMENT: FOOD LOSS REDUCTION STRATEGY GAZETTED, WITH ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT POLICY

WASTE MANAGEMENT: FOOD LOSS REDUCTION STRATEGY GAZETTED, WITH ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT POLICY

• 29 August 2025
• Environmental Law
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment has gazetted two documents with implications for waste management:

• a national policy for managing electrical and electronic equipment waste, and
• a strategy for reducing food loss and waste.

Gazetted in draft form in June 2024 for public comment, the electrical and electronic wast management policy has now been published for implementation and requires stakeholders to ensure that:

• ‘any valuable, recoverable secondary resources locked in(to) … (their end-of-life products) are available again for manufacturing’, and that
• no ‘hazardous substances’ are leaked into the environment.

The policy is underpinned by government’s commitment to:

• ‘the efficient, equitable, inclusive, and financially sustainable management of all … (electrical and electronic equipment waste)’ in a manner that:
• is environmentally safe
• ‘protects human health’, and
• ‘furthers circular economy principles based on social and technical development opportunities’.

This is noting that, according to Wikipedia, a circular economy:

• is ‘a model of resource production and consumption … that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible’, and
• ‘aims to tackle global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste and pollution’.

Released in draft form in September 2023 for public comment, the purpose of the food loss and waste reduction strategy is to lay a foundation for the following key outcomes:

• an ‘enabling environment’ for food loss and waste reduction intervention implementation
• food loss and waste beneficiation opportunities in the context of a circular economy
• ‘collaboration, capacity building and awareness raising’, and
• ‘food waste diversion and greenhouse gas emission reduction’.

Please click the links below for more information:

• electrical and electronic equipment waste management policy
• food loss and waste reduction strategy

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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