CHAPTER 5 RESULTS
5.4 Prospects of Source Separation Refuse Collection Services
101 5.3.6 The Regulating Authority Sector
The regulating authority representatives were concerned that despite the MM having a large budget and meeting the basic criteria of a high capacity municipality, it nonetheless had a very high refuse collection backlog, faced serious risks trying to provide the current
collection services effectively and would be unlikely to extend service delivery to new areas.
One of the regulating authority representatives commented that the WMU “had no
management skills to change the current situation and no plan to guide them to an improved situation”.
5.3.7 The Technical Expert Sector
Predictably all the technical experts felt that MM would in the short term be unable to extend refuse collection services, amongst the key factors identified that inhibit the extension of service delivery include poor leadership, conflict ridden bureaucracy, lack of capability amongst staff, low political priority for waste management issues, no fiscal commitment, lack of community protests against non delivery of waste management services and a lack of innovation amongst managers responsible for waste management within the MM.
102 5.4.2 The MM Waste Management Services Sector
The prospects for providing source separation collection services within the MM are viewed in two very different ways by senior management within the WMU and the LSU. One view held largely at a senior management level within the WMU argues that source separation collection services will be rolled out to all households currently receiving refuse collection services within the next two years utilising private sector recyclers like Mondi Paper. This view is of the opinion that if it is possible for Mondi Paper to do it in the Ethekwini
Municipality within a two year period then it can also be done within MM in a similar time frame. According to this view recyclers participating in these types of projects will be expected to incur all transport, labour and plastic bag costs in return for free access to recyclables separated by households and businesses. The managers who support this view indicate that municipal labour had no problems with source separation services being provided by the private sector. Some of the challenges identified by supporters of this view include doubts about the process they would need to follow to move this project from a pilot state to a fully fledged programme extending across the city as well the need to include other recyclers beyond Mondi Paper so that no monopoly existed. When probed into how the municipality would support recyclers during cycles when commodity prices declined and recycling became difficult as it usually does from time to time, one manager provided the following response: “that is not a municipal problem but a problem for those who assume responsibility to provide recycling services to the municipality, they should plan for such cycles in their businesses”.
Senior managers from the LSU believe that it will be very difficult for MM to forge such partnerships with the private sector due to competing interests within the MM for recyclable materials; the lack of commitment, innovation and work ethic by senior management most likely to be involved in building of such partnerships and the suspicions and opposition coming from labour over the project. One of the senior managers also pointed out that recycling is done most effectively through a material recovery facility located at a landfill site.
According to operational level staff in the WMU the source separation project has become a nightmare to them;“we were involved in the pilot recycling project as trainers, we trained 10
103 educators who then had to train the community in source separation, management claimed then that they had already consulted labour on the project, now it seems clear that they did not do so, now senior management want us to fix the mess by training shop stewards on recycling, the shop stewards now see us as being responsible for the project and the threats they see the project posing to their jobs, we are not going to get involved in this project anymore”.
5.4.3 The MM Political Sector
All the political representatives indicate that they have been informed that a pilot source separation project commenced in early 2009 in one ward of the MM. They are not clear about the length of the project and whether an independent evaluation of the project is being undertaken. All the political representatives believe that source separation collection services should be provided, two of the representatives agree that the private sector must do it because the MM does not have the capacity to undertake such a service whilst the other political representative is of the view that the MM will need to take a policy decision on the manner in which the service is to be provided.
5.4.4 The MM Labour Sector
Both union representatives are of the view that the pilot source separation project is a way of introducing privatisation of collection services and are opposed to the project. They believe that the MM must purchase additional vehicles and employ more staff to undertake the source separation collection services. The collection of orange bags containing recyclables by MM collection vehicles instead of the recycler seems to confirm labours opposition to the project and consequent attempts to sabotage the project.
5.4.5 The Business Sector
The organised waste management business sector is involved in the current source separation pilot project; they are predictably enthusiastic about the project and require the MM to extend the project throughout the city. However both of the representatives of the waste sector indicated that it is very difficult to work with and build partnerships with MM. The
following quotations provide insight into the challenges facing the waste business sector in their partnerships with MM: “The pilot project should have been extended long ago, things are taking a long time to move. It seems as if Msunduzi is unsure of the future, not sure who
104 is the champion and who leads the project. Msunduzi needs to be a real partner, Central Waste collects recyclables at no cost but must still travel to the main gate of the landfill site, we waste diesel travelling for 14 kilometres to the main entrance when we can use the back gate to the landfill site that is about 1.5 kilometres from our premises. We are ready, we can extend service delivery very easily to the entire city and create many jobs but municipality needs to get its act together. Unsure why there are labour problems, we have met labour, they came here and had a meeting and then suddenly they change their mind and start creating problems. The municipality does not pay a cent for the current project, it simply needs to give the go ahead and the entire city will have source separation services”.
“There is a lack of support from the Msunduzi Municipality, emails are unanswered, voice messages are not returned, no feedback is given, there has been no meeting in at least six months yet they talk of a partnership, Msunduzi workers are picking up the orange bags, these bags cost about 70cents each which Msunduzi does not pay for and Central Waste ends up wasting their time and fuel looking for bags that Msunduzi staff have already picked up”.
5.4.6 The Regulatory Authority Sector
According to the regulatory authorities source separation collection services are unlikely to be provided in the next two years to the majority of households in the MM given the serious problems facing the pilot project. Both representatives of the regulatory authorities believe that the WMU must address the challenges that have arisen on the project to date before the project can be extended on a larger scale.
5.4.7 The Technical Expert Sector
Most of the technical experts agree that source separation collection services are unlikely to be extended in the next two years to all households and businesses currently receiving waste collection services within the MM. The basis for these conclusions vary from MM lacking the capacity to implement such services to the MM lacking capacity to work in partnership with the private sector and the complex challenge of changing people‟s attitudes and
behaviour to waste management issues. One expert believes that international experience has shown that source separation does not work effectively and efficiently, according to this technical expert it would be more efficient to collect all the waste in one bag and set up a material recovery facility to sort out the waste. Another technical expert is of the view that
105 the private sector stakeholders can deliver effective source separation collection services if the MM enables them to do this by building an effective partnership.