Pretoria -The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) has urged South Africans to be more conscious about reducing, reusing and recycling waste.
The President of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa, Vincent Charnley, on Tuesday said the festive season generated more waste than any other time during the year, especially in households.
"We are calling on all South Africans to be more responsible in the way they dispose of their waste in the future," he said, adding that there was a need for players in waste management to educate people.
He said the public should be made aware that if their behaviour does not change in terms of reducing and recycling waste, the country could face a crisis.
Recycling conserves natural resources, but what many overlook is that it also helps to reduce global warming, he said.
He said there are were 1 200 landfill sites which not only compounded the problem of asthma because of the quality of air, but also affected marine creatures as they were exposed to mercury.
"This problem is something we cannot ignore. We need to tread lightly on the earth. We need to get people excited about the many and varied career opportunities in waste management and make sure they know what a serious a threat badly managed waste poses."
According to the institution, 48 million South Africans generated an average of 550kg of waste per capita, leaving waste managers to handle 26.4 million tons of rubbish per annum.
"We will be taking a much stronger position in the industry regarding waste management and we urge all companies to follow our example," urged Mr Charnley.
He said people needed to be made aware of "entrepreneurs in our country who make a living from recycling waste".
"We have an inventive population that not only manages waste to earn their keep, but there are those that manufacture sealable objects from plastic, tin cans and other waste items," said Mr Charnley.
Studies have shown that the use and distribution of products and management of waste generated led to the emission of greenhouse gases, and increased concentration of such gases would result in a rise in global warming.
